Da Capo Al Fine
by Cassie Valentine
Summary: AU. Christopher comes, and goes, just after Rory starts Gr. 10 at SHH and leaves a little something behind. How will Lorelai deal with a life that seems to have returned to the beginning, da capo al fine? Will be LL eventually.
1. Chapter 1

Lorelai slammed the door shut and leaned against it, arms folder over her chest as she allowed herself a moment fume over Christopher. When she could no longer hear the roar of his motorcycle, she began kicking herself for believing him yet again.

_I'm not gonna take off, Lor,_ he had sworn to her. After he had stuck around for a week, she started to question him on his intentions. Rory was starting to get used to having him around, talking about how great it would be if he stuck around and Lorelai wanted time to get ready to pick Rory up and put her back together again when he finally did leave. But, with promises of commitment, flowery words of love for her and Rory and all but a sworn statement that he had changed his ways and was ready to be a family man, she let him back into their house, Rory's life and her bed. She had pushed the nagging voice in the back of her mind to the side, telling herself that this was it. He was really going to follow through this time. Then, as if on cue, when Lorelai started to hint that she was willing to give him some coveted drawer and closet space he suddenly had something go terribly wrong at work. Something only he could fix. Something he needed to go back to California to deal with.

So, here she was yet again. Crying over the boy she always swore she was over, knowing that tonight her daughter would come home and they would cry about it together. She gave herself another few moments before she pushed away from the door and went off in search of a box. A big box. One that she could fit the other 2 Christopher Boxes into so she would only have to look at one, instead of 3.

* * *

"So, did you find it?" Sookie asked when Lorelai came into the kitchen that afternoon.

"He's gone," she said as she dropped her clip board on the center island of the kitchen and headed straight for the coffee. "Packed up and took off while Rory was at school and if I hadn't forgotten these seating charts, while I was at work."

"Oh honey, I'm sorry," Sookie said as she came over and hugged Lorelai. She let herself sink into it for a moment before pulling back.

"And Rory is going to be heartbroken, like every other time he does this. I hate myself for letting this happen, to both of us. I always swear it's the last time, never again. . . But then he shows up, out of the blue. All smiles and blue eyes and motorcycle-ee and. . . He's just so. . ."

"Christopher," Sookie finished as she pushed a plate of cookies in front of her.

"Christopher," Lorelai agreed as she picked one up before heaving a sigh and putting it down again. "Stupid Christopher," she said as she headed back out to the front desk to try and push him out of her mind with useless busy work and Michel's incessant chattering.

* * *

"Hey kid," Lorelai said when she found Rory sitting on the porch of the house.

"Hey," she said, not really looking up from her book. Lorelai took a seat beside her on the stairs.

"He's gone," she said finally.

"I know," she replied, finally looking up from her book. "His bike wasn't here. And I went inside and all his stuff was gone and then I saw the boxes. . . I didn't want to . . ." she trailed off, playing with the corners of the pages of _Brave New World_, her latest novel.

"I know," Lorelai replied as she threw an arm around Rory's shoulders and pulled her close. "You'd think we'd have learned by now, huh?" she asked with a sad smile.

"You'd think," Rory got out before giving into the tears that had been threatening to fall for the last 40 minutes. Lorelai gathered the 15 year old into her arms and stroked her hair as she cried herself out over the abandonment.

* * *

"You look better," Rory said as she crawled into bed beside her mother after she got home from school. Lorelai had spent the last couple of days curled up in bed with a nasty cold.

"Feel better," she said with a stretch and yawn. "How was school?"

"Good," she said. "Ok," changing her tune when Lorelai looked at her. "It was horrible," she finally confessed as she snuggled down and laid her head or Lorelai's shoulder. "I still can't stop thinking about dad."

"Me neither," she said as they both laid there for a moment longer. "Hungry?"

"Yeah. Luke's?"

"Doose's," Lorelai said. "No more Tatter Tots. Or toaster pizza," she explained.

"Chocolate too," Rory added, thinking of the binging they had done last night. "Doose's it is," she said as she left her book bag by the bed and stood up. Lorelai rolled out of the other side of the bed, grabbed a sweatshirt from the back of a chair and threw an arm over Rory's shoulders as they headed out of the house.

When the pair got to the market, Rory went off in search of chocolate and other junk food while Lorelai went off in search of the frozen food. As she was heading to the counter to meet up with Rory, she paused in front of the juice. She scanned the shelves and smiled when she got her hands on a bottle of apple juice. Rory raised an eye brow when she saw it, but Lorelai rationalised that since she was sick, fluids would be needed, fluids other than coffee. Accepting that explanation, the pair paid, made a quick stop in the video store and headed home for one last night of post-Christopher wallowing.

* * *

_There is something missing from this list. . . _ Lorelai said as she read over the 'monthly essentials' list she was putting together. She had been jotting things down all day while at work, especially since some essentials were no longer available in the house. She and Rory had had their week to mope over Christopher taking off and now it was time to get back on track. Lorelai finally shrugged and tucked the list into her pocket. She'd get Rory to read it over when she picked her up from school.

"Ten minutes to assault me with anything else before I take off," she called out to the staff that was milling around the front desk. Michel, naturally, had a stack of papers he needed her to read, sign and send off to various people. A few minutes of arguing with him and the stack was suddenly cut in half. "Good, I'll see you tomorrow," she said, grabbing her coat and purse and heading out the door.

"Here," Lorelai said, thrusting the list at Rory.

"Hi to you to too. Yes, actually, I did have a good day at school, thanks for asking," Rory said as she tossed her bag in the back seat and got into the jeep before taking the piece of paper. "What's this?"

"Monthly essentials. Something is missing and I can't figure out what it is. Look it over?" the elder Gilmore asked as she pulled away from the curb and headed towards Hartford.

"Umm, Doose's?" Rory asked as they drove past it.

"I was thinking that we should hit up that new taco place in Hartford." Rory eagerly agreed as she looked over the list.

"Tampons," Rory said suddenly.

"Excuse me?"

"They're not on the list. How could you forget those?" she asked as she shot her mother a funny look.

"Must have slipped my mind."

"Because menstruation cycles are oh so forgettable. . ." Rory joked as she shoved the list in her pocket. Lorelai shot her a look of her own after that comment. In between the radio and the banter that filled the driver, Lorelai tried to figure out how she had forgotten something so basic.

* * *

I'm looking for opinions on this story. Is it worth continuing? I've recieved a rather cool welcome to the GG fandom and I'm wondering if I should keep writing in this fandom. 


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning at work, while enjoying a cup of coffee and the early morning produce argument between Sookie and Jackson, Lorelai put together why she had left the tampons off the essentials list. She was out of the kitchen and in search of a calendar so fast that Sookie and Jackson took pause from their fight and the stool she had been sitting on wobbled on it's feet. 

"No. . . no, no, no, no, no, no, no. . ." she muttered as she flipped through the reservation book, counting days and flustering Michel in the process. "I'm going out," she said suddenly, shoving the book back at Michel. "I'll be back later."

"When is later?" he asked.

"Just later!" she called, already halfway out the door. She regretted not grabbing her coat before leaving the building. Fall was just starting to settle on Connecticut and with it, a slight chill in the air. "My hand to God, Christopher," she muttered as she climbed into the jeep and headed for the highway. "I will skin you alive if you do this to me again."

While considering her options and time constraints for this journey, Woodbridge seemed to be the only option. If she'd had all day, she would have just headed to Hartford. She knew the city and the chances of running into any one she knew in a pharmacy would be slim to none. As she drove, she kicked herself. First, for letting this happen in the first place and second, for not putting things together sooner.

All that apple juice? Who the hell was she kidding. She NEVER drank apple juice. Even when she was throwing up for hours on end last year with the flu, it was ginger ale. She kicked herself a little more after this train of though; now she really wanted an apple. She fiddled with the radio as she turned off the highway and turned it off again in frustration soon after, continuing to drive with only her thoughts as a sound track.

"And here I expected this to be less daunting this time around," she muttered as she finally pulled into the parking lot of a pharmacy. She sat in the jeep for a moment longer before flinging the door open and marching purposefully into the store and heading straight for the pregnancy tests. She scanned the shelves for a moment before hastily grabbing a box and heading to the cashier.

"Paper or plastic?" she muttered, snapping her gum and not really paying attention as she went through the actions.

"Paper," Lorelai said quickly, nearly tapping her foot to try and will the girl to go faster.

"Have a great day," she said as she handed back change and held the bag out. Lorelai nodded her thanks, snatched the bag and stalked back out to the jeep. As she sat in the drivers seat, she suddenly found her will dissipating. She knew she should take the test as soon as possible, just so she knew exactly how mad at herself and Christopher she should be. She also knew that she needed to go back to work and knew she'd be useless if she did take it. She reached for the bag and peered into it just as her phone rang.

"Hello?" she asked, a little harsher than she would have normally answered it. But, it didn't matter much as it was Michel on the other end, moaning at her about some happenings at the inn that only she could deal with and could she PLEASE cut her field trip short and return to the inn and deal with the angry and agitated people. "20 minutes Michel. I'll be there in 20," she said, hanging up and sighing as she rolled the top of the bag shut once again and shoved it into the glove box.

* * *

Sookie looked up from her sauce as Lorelai wandered into the kitchen and sat down. She frowned as she looked at Lorelai before grabbing a mug and the coffee pot.

"What's wrong, honey?" she asked as she poured the coffee and placed it in front of Lorelai. "You're refusing coffee?" she asked, more than a little shocked when she watched Lorelai wrap her hands around the mug and inhale before setting it an arms length away. Lorelai glanced around the kitchen, and satisfied that the kitchen staff was at a minimum, motioned Sookie closer.

"I think Christopher may have left something behind."

"Left something? Like a sweater? A book? Help me out here."

"_Something_," Lorelai emphasized, willing Sookie to figure it out so she didn't have to say it. "A little something, much like Rory," she whispered again. Sookie furrowed her brow as she tried to figure out the riddle.

"Ohmigod!" Sookie muttered. "Are you sure?"

"Pretty much," she replied, burring her head in her hands. "How could I have let this happen?" she asked. Fortunately, Sookie picked up that it was a rhetorical question. "How am I going to tell Rory? Oh God, how am I going to tell my parents?" she moaned as she tried to sink further into her hands.

"Oh, honey," Sookie said as she hurried over to Lorelai and pulled her into a hug. "It's all going to be okay. Rory is going to be thrilled. Christopher is going to be thrilled and you're parents. . . Well, they'll warm up to the idea and it will all be okay."

"Christopher, thrilled. Yeah, thrilled like he was last time," she muttered. Sookie chuckled and held Lorelai at arms length.

"You two aren't 16 this time. You both have jobs, money. . . It'll be fine. You'll see," she assured her. Lorelai sighed and glanced at the clock.

"I should go. Rory's staying at Lane's tonight and I want to see her before she goes. Do you think maybe . . ."

"8 good?"

"Perfect," Lorelai said with a small smile. "Oh yeah, Michel's big panic? Upholstery cleaners weren't listening to him." Sookie laughed out right at this. The way he had been going on, she'd figured they were trying to steal the furniture. "See you at 8," she said as she left the kitchen, gathered her stuff and headed home.

* * *

"Mom, you're not listening," Rory said as she continued to put stuff in an over night bag.

"Sorry. A new book, go on," she said as she purposefully sat on her hands to keep them from playing with the hem of her shirt. Rory looked at her for a long moment.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not right now," she said quickly.

"Mom. . . "

"No, Rory. Not right now. Later, I promise. And, in fact, I will even bring it up later. Much later. When you get home from Lane's tomorrow later."

"Is it about dad?"

"Not exactly. It's complicated and I haven't figured it all out myself. Don't worry!" Lorelai assured her as she got up from the chair and handed Rory a few CD's. "Sookie is coming over tonight and we're going to work it all out. I promise."

"You'll call, if you need anything, right?" she asked as she zipped up the bag.

"I swear," she assured her. "Here, for the further corruption of Lane Kim," she said, handing Rory a $20 with a smile. "Have fun," she said as she gave Rory a hug and sent her on her way.

* * *

"I must admit," Sookie called out as she rested against the wall. "I find this kind of exciting."

"Yeah, that's because you're not the one who might be pregnant," Lorelai called out from the bathroom. Sookie chuckled.

"You're my best friend. For all I know, I'll go through all the sympathy. . . Everything with you."

"It is always more fun with company," Lorelai concluded with a small smile of her own. "Are you willing to work in shifts? Say, you take the morning sickness half the time?" Sookie laughed for a moment.

"Are you going to make me wait out here all by myself?" she called impatiently.

"Don't get your knickers in a knot!" Lorelai called out before opening the door, clutching a timer in her hands. "3 minutes," she said, setting it and handing it to Sookie. "Is it normal to kind of feel like throwing up?" she asked.

"I don't know," she said with a giggle. "You tell me."

"Almost did last time. But that might have also been the impending dissection I had coming up," Lorelai said as she made a face and collapsed on the bed to wait out the 3 minutes. Sookie made a face at the thought of dissections.

"Always hated biology," she said. "Home-ec on the other hand. . . I made a killing," she giggled. "I baked, they paid, it was great."

"You did other kids homework? Sookie, I'm surprised at you!" Lorelai replied with her own smile.

"Well, it only lasted a semester. The teacher put things together and, fortunately, let me know that all activities should cease and desist," she said, impersonating the teacher. "1 minute 45," she said, anticipating the next question.

"Go faster!" she cried into the timer and the chef laughed.

"I don't think it works that way, Honey," she said sympathetically. "So, if it is. . . You know. . . What are you going to do?"

"Cry," she answered. "Tell Rory, cry some more. Try to get a hold of Christopher, have a fight with him and then cry again. Tell my parents, at some point, and then cry. Again."

"I'm sensing a pattern here. . . " she said with a small smile.

"God I hate this," she said as she rested her head on Sookie's shoulder. The two sat in silence and waited out the timer.

* * *

"Sookie?"

"Hey Popcorn," she said. "You're home early."

"Yeah, Lane suggested and I agreed after there was talk of tofu and bibles," she said, putting her stuff in her room. "What are you doing here?"

"Making breakfast, silly," she said as she set a third place at the table for Rory.

"And it smells great," she said, helping herself to some orange juice. "But, you don't usually stay over night just to make mom breakfast." Sookie hesitated over the eggs for a moment. "What happened?"

"Nothing happened Rory," Sookie assured her as she served the bacon first, then the eggs. "It just got to be late, so I crashed here, in your room. You don't mind?"

"No," she said as she looked at her plate for a moment before grabbing the pepper. "Are you sure everything is okay? Mom seemed distracted yesterday."

"You should really talk to her about this Rory," Sookie said as she put the pans back on the stove. "Let's go Chickey!" she called up the stairs.

"Yes mom!" Lorelai called back. "Hey kid," she said, giving Rory a hug before sliding into her chair. "Ooh. . . Eggs!" she said with a smile as she dug in.

"Why is Sookie still here?" Rory asked immediately.

"Because some times mommy likes to have a sleepover too."

"What's going on?"

"Uh, your breakfast getting cold, and possibly eaten, is what's going on," she said as she snatched a piece of bacon from Rory's plate.

"What's wrong? Why are you avoiding this?"

"Because no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!" she said in a bad British accent. "Later Rory."

"But. . ."

"Later," she said, glaring at Rory. The two stared at each other for a moment before Rory backed down. Sookie glanced nervously between the two before striking up a conversation with Rory as to what she and Lane had done the night before. The rest of breakfast passed without incident and before Lorelai knew it, Sookie was gone and Rory had her cornered.

"Spill," she said, arms crossed over her chest.

"It's not that easy," she said as she slipped out from between Rory and the kitchen counter, making her way up the stairs.

"Well try," Rory called, hot on her heels. "You need brake lights," Rory muttered after crashing into Lorelai, who had come to an abrupt halt out side of the bathroom. "Don't make me get the coat hanger," she warned when her mother started to close the door.

"Easy as I can make it," she said, handing Rory The Stick. She watched as he daughter took it in her hand and furrowed her brow.

"Is this . . ."

"Yes."

"And it's . . ."

"Yes."

"Dad?"

"Who else would it be?"

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"Called him yet? What about grandma and grandpa?" Rory asked as she followed her mother into her bedroom, stick still in hand.

"No and no. I need to digest this, I can't deal with them yet. How do you feel about this?" Rory paused for a moment. How did she feel about this?

"Uh. . . " she said, ending with a shrug.

"Yeah, that's about where I am too."

"It's going to be ok, mom," Rory said as she pair of them sat down on the bed. "Maybe. . . " she started.

"What?"

"Maybe dad will come back. You know, move up here and find a way to run his company from here. Maybe this is what he needs. . . "

"Rory," Lorelai cut her off. "He can't come back just because I'm pregnant. It won't work if that's why he comes back. It didn't work with you and it won't work this time."

"But, how do you know? He's not 16 anymore and he has a real job and. . ." Lorelai cut her off.

"Sweets, he's not ready. If he was ready, he wouldn't have snuck away when he thought we were both out. He would have either waited until we got home and told us or he would have found a way to deal with things from here. He's not ready yet and no little repeat performance of days gone by is going to change that," she said as she looked Rory in the eye and ran a hand over her head. "Understand?" Rory sighed and nodded.

"You are still going to tell him, right?"

"Of course."

"When? Soon?" she asked impatiently.

"I will call tomorrow, if that will make you happy," she said with a sigh.

"It will," Rory assured her with a hug. "Mom? I think this is kind of cool," she said after a moment. "I've always wanted a scape goat," she added with a smile and small laugh that her mother returned.

* * *

Okay, so, I have about 23 pages of this done, but I'm not sure if I like any but hte first 19. Should I do a break down and have one part for every ep (Yes, I do have plans to carry this through to season 7) or should I just pick out important eps to use?? Drop a line in the comments, or email: Subject: Da Capo  



	3. Chapter 3

* * *

_The number you have dialled has been disconnected. Please hang up and try your call again. If you think you have received this message in error. . ._

Lorelai hung up the phone in frustration. His number was out of service. Again. He also wasn't answering his cell phone and he hadn't left a forwarding number or address. She tried each number once more before she hung up in frustration.

"Well?" Rory asked when Lorelai finally stormed downstairs.

"I hate that recording a little more every time I hear it," she grumbled as she flopped down on the couch beside Rory, taking the book from her hands. "I'm bored now."

"Well," she said, snatching her book back. "Watch a movie. Watch TV. Follow my example and read a book.

"SUGAH!"

"Oh no," they both muttered when they heard Babette call out moments before she burst into the house.

"Sugah! Oh, hey Rory. Sugah, are you alright?" she asked as she sat herself between Rory and Lorelai. "I saw Sookie leavin' earlier today and she wasn't lookin' too happy. And she's usually all smiles when she leaves."

"Everything's fine Babette," she said, smiling and trying to assure her. "She was just tired, we had a long night."

"Ahhhhh . . . " she said, with a knowing smile. "The girls will play while the baby is away. Gotcha!" she said, nudging Lorelai with her elbow before standing up suddenly. "Well, carry on then, you two. MOREY! I'M COMIN' HOME!" she yelled before she took off. Lorelai and Rory both winced at the volume and the door slam.

"You're going to have to tell them too," she said, referring to Babette and Miss Patty.

"I know, I know," she said. "But I should track down your father first."

"How did you tell him about me?"

"I convinced him to skip 4th period, dragged him into an empty classroom and trapped him."

"And then?"

"And then I just blurted it out. He was quiet for a moment and then the freak out started," she said with a smile.

"And you stayed calm?"

"Of course, I had been freaking out for at least a week already, since my debutant dress didn't fit anymore." Lorelai looked at Rory and pulled her close. "I shop lifted a test from a small store around the corner from the school and took it between 2nd and 3rd period. I hid it in a tampon wrapper and threw it in the trash."

"Wow. How very. . . MacGyver of you," Rory concluded.

"Thanks," she said with a laugh. "So once again. . ."

"MacGyver marathon? I saw some tapes at the video store."

"Really? What are we doing standing around here then?" she asked as she jumped up from the couch and grabbed her coat and purse. "Come on, come on, come on!" she called to Rory, clapping her hands to try and make her move faster.

"Hold your horses, missy!" she said as she carefully marked her place in _Huck Finn_ before heading to put it in her room and grab her own coat. "Money?"

"Check!"

"Keys?"

"Check! Let's go mom," Lorelai said as she grabbed Rory by the shoulders and steered her out of the house and towards town. "Oh, Luke's first," she said as she started to turn.

"Are you supposed to be drinking coffee?"

"You're no worse for wear, are ya?" Rory shrugged and followed her mother. "Coffee!" she demanded.

"In cups!" Rory tacked on. Luke glanced over at the pair and raised an eye brow at their antics.

"Here or to go?" he asked, pot in hand. The girls looked at each other, considering their options.

"Pre-marathon snack?" Rory asked.

"For here," Lorelai called as they sat down and took their coats off.

"Cheese burgers?" he asked casually as he filled their cups.

"Yes!"

"No," they said at the same time. Rory and Luke stared at Lorelai for a moment. "I feel like a change," she said with a shrug, grabbing a menu. Luke stood at the table still blinking.

"You hate change," he said calmly. "You hate change so much that you almost cried the last time I changed your furnace filter," he commented, putting the pot of coffee down on the table and taking a seat. When he looked over at Rory, she grabbed a menu too.

"Some times change is good," she said with a shrug as she buried her head in it. Luke shook his head and stood up again.

"I guess I'll come back," he said, grabbing the pot and going off to make the rounds with one last look over his shoulder at the pair.

"Inconspicuous is SO not our last name," Rory whispered to her mother.

"I can't help it. The thought of all that greasy meat made my stomach turn. And not in the fun 'Yay! We're on a roller coaster!' kind of way. Soup to obvious?"

"Unless you can make up a sick story. Have a sandwich. And extra fries. Turkey, extra mayo."

"Oh Burger Boy!" Lorelai called, waving her hand in the air.

"What now?"

"Cheese burger, extra fries!" Rory asked with a smile.

"Turkey sandwich. On white, extra mayo and double the fries." Luke bobbed his head as he wrote the order down.

"Hang on," he said, actually reading what he had written. "Are you still sick?" he asked. "You told me you shook that bug."

"I'm not, I did. . . Change! Good!" she repeated, shooing him from the table. "I should add him to the list too, right?"

"I'd put him near the top. How long are you going to wait?" Lorelai sighed.

"Not here. The walls have ears," she finished as she jerked her head slightly towards Miss Patty's table.

"Subtle," Rory remarked as a gigantic plate of fries was placed on the table.

"Appetizer, then burger. . . And sandwich," he said, almost like the last word left a bad taste in his mouth.

"I thought you'd be proud of me. Branching out, something kind of healthy."

"When you branch out, I worry," he said, pointing a finger at her.

"He's such a softy," Lorelai remarked with a smile as she and Rory attacked the french-fries.

* * *

"Coffee," Lorelai muttered as she stepped into the kitchen at the Independence Inn a few days later. Sookie eyed her carefully for a moment. 

"I'm taking it upon myself to limit your coffee while you're here," she said as she came to stand in front of Lorelai. "How much?"

"None officer, I'm sober. You can even smell my breath!" she said with a fake smile. Sookie eyed her a moment longer before heading to the coffee pot.

"¼ cup," Lorelai called. Sookie dropped the cup in surprise.

"What?"

"Can only handle a taste these days," she muttered. She never had gotten a hold of Christopher and word had inevitably leaked out around the Inn about her predicament. "Very sad," she said as she accepted the ¼ cup of coffee from Sookie.

"Any news?" Sookie asked as she cleaned up the broken mug, thankfully with out injury.

"Not yet, but the mail hasn't come yet. Hopefully today is the day. Fingers crossed!" she said with a thumbs up before heading back out to the front desk. Later that afternoon, Michel casually handed over a stack of letters.

"Sookie!" Lorelai called as she rushed into the kitchen. "It's here! It happened! She did it!" she gasped excitedly, nearly dropping the bag she had with her.

"Okay, I'm gonna need a little bit longer sentence. . . " Sookie said with a smile, wiping her hands with a towel.

"The Chilton school. Rory got in!"

"Oh my God!" Sookie exclaimed, bouncing in place slightly. She moved quickly to Lorelai's side as she read the letter, snickering at Lorelai's admission that "I offered to do the principle to get her in," before pulling her best friend into a tight hug.

"Mom?" Rory called as she wandered into the kitchen.

"Oh!" she exclaimed.

"You're happy. Did you do something slutty?" Rory asked, making a little face.

"I'm not that happy," she replied as she and Sookie both giggled. "Here," she said, handing over the bag.

"I'm gonna be in a Britney Spears video?" Rory asked as she pulled out a plaid skirt.

"You're going to Chilton!" Sookie blurted out before apologising. Rory looked to Lorelai for confirmation.

"You did it, babe. You got in," she said, pulling Rory in for a hug.

"You didn't. . . with the principal, did you?" Rory asked after pulling back slightly from Lorelai. Lorelai assured her that she hadn't and informed her that she was starting on Monday.

"I don't believe this! Oh my God, I'm going to Chilton!" Rory exclaimed, hugging both Sookie and Lorelai again before rushing out of the kitchen to call Lane. Lorelai and Sookie shared one last moment of pride before Lorelai headed out to the front desk where she was presented with a second letter from Chilton. This time, it wasn't all good news.

* * *

Still fretting over the fruitless call to Chilton about tuition fees and having rejected Sookie's idea of asking her parents for money, Lorelai hemmed Rory's skirt and at Rory's comment that she loved being a private school girl, she knew she had no choice but to ask for money. 

"Hi mom," Lorelai said when her mother answered the door. After the perfunctory greetings and the jabs at Lorelai's reasons for being in Hartfort, she received a promise of tuition and enrolment fees in return for Friday night dinners. Who said selling your soul to the devil wasn't fun?

* * *

Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief after leaving her parents house. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day, especially after that fight she'd had with Rory over a boy and Chilton. 

"They don't know, do they?" Rory asked.

"Not now Rory," she said as she headed into Luke's for an after dinner meal.

"I mean, she wouldn't have brought up dad like that if she had."

"Rory, she would have brought him up either way. Can we drop it now?" Rory nodded and the conversation shifted to how much of the conversation between Lorelai and Emily that Rory had heard.

"Can't let a perfectly good plaid skirt go to waste," she reasoned with a shrug.

"Oh, honey. You won't be sorry," Lorelai assured her as they entered Luke's. After the pleasant surprise of Luke in a button down shirt and no baseball cap, the pair ordered and Lorelai began to pump for information on this boy that almost had Rory reconsidering her future.

* * *

Shameless plug: Read Wreck of the day, by yours truely. A little Post-Partings musing by Lorelai. Other than that, no real news. Well, I'm almost done the first season, 2 eps from the end, I believe. Current page count is 56 on my HD 


	4. Chapter 4

So, here's the deal kids. This story is now done, all 80 pages and 35 000 words of it. It's off at my beta. I will continue to post here, while it's being edited and the super spiffy versio will be posted at Black, White and Read.

P.S. Go read Wreck of the Day! It's so lonely with no reviews!

* * *

"Do you mind?" Lorelai asked as she crept in just after Luke had closed on Saturday. With Rory off at Lane's for one last pre-private school sleep over, she didn't feel like sitting at home and stewing over not being able to get a hold of Christopher.

"Not at all," he said as he took the chairs off of one of the tables. "I have no coffee left. At all," he said as he gave the table a quick wipe before she sat down.

"That's okay, no coffee for me," she said quietly. Luke cocked an eye brow and hesitated for a moment.

"Really. Are you sick?" he asked. She gave a little 'ha," as she scrubbed a hand over her face. "What's wrong?" he asked as he sat down across from her, more than a little concerned at this point.

"You can't breath a word of this to any one," she pleaded with him.

"Because I'm such a notorious gossip. . ." he said with an eye roll.

"I mean it Luke," she insisted.

"Yeah, ok. I promise," he said seriously. She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, hesitating.

"I'm pregnant," she finally blurted out.

"What? When? How? No, I know how. . . Christopher?" he asked, having met the man while he was here and while he wouldn't say anything to Lorelai, he didn't think much of the man. He was rude and immature as far as Luke was concerned and didn't deserve to have Lorelai or Rory in his life.

"Christopher," she agreed.

"Come on," he said as he stood up and put his chair on the table.

"Where?" she asked as he pulled her out of her chair before putting it on the table as well. He turned out the lights before taking her hand and leading her upstairs to his apartment. She glanced around, never having been up there before, as he took her coat and ushered her to the sofa.

"Tea? Water?" he asked as he hung up her coat and headed to the fridge.

"Water is fine," she said as she took in the size of the apartment. _Definitely for a bachelor only_, she concluded. _Very nice open concept though_. . . He brought her a glass and sat on the opposite end of the couch where they both fell into a rather awkward silence. He had a million questions he wanted to ask, but he really wanted Lorelai to offer the answers so he wouldn't feel like he was prying.

"Rory knows?" he asked finally, figuring that was a safe, neutral question given the circumstances.

"Told her a few days ago," she confided in him. "I can't find him," she said quietly and as Luke looked over at her, he thought it was odd that this one comment should make her seem small and lost to him.

"You don't have his number?"

"Disconnected. Again," she said. "And he's not picking up his cell phone."

"What about his parents?" Luke asked. She snorted in amusement.

"They still think I somehow conceived Rory all by lonesome and dragged Chris into it to ruin his life. They also don't think I should have kept Rory and they let me know it every time I see them." Luke frowned. He would never understand why it was always the girls fault. Even when it had been Liz, he hadn't understood why everyone blamed her but didn't really say anything to Jimmy.

"You know, if you, uh, you ever need anything, well, baby sitting might be out, but anything, you know, handy man related, you can call."

"You always did okay with Rory," she said, thinking back to the nights of mashed potatoes and school plays.

"Yeah well, Rory wasn't going to die if I did something wrong while you were out of the room."

"Thank you," she said with a smile as she reached out to give his hand a squeeze.

"Does Rory know where you are?" he asked, catching a glance of the clock, it was nearly 10 at night.

"She's at Lane's for the night," she said as she put her glass down on the coffee table, toed off her shoes and pulled her knees up to her chest. "I feel 15 again," she confided in him. He sighed and rubbed his forehead, not really sure what else to say.

"It'll be okay," he said finally, shifting on the sofa until he was setting beside her. He threw an arm over her shoulders and awkwardly pulled her close. She leaned into him and let him hug her.

"Thank you," she said, making no effort to move away.

"For what?" he asked.

"For saying all the right things," she informed him. And he had said all the right things. He had worried about her and Rory and hadn't criticised or question her choices or judgement. He had just been. . . Luke.

"I get it right some times," he chuckled as he held her a little while longer. Eventually, she pulled away from him and got up off the couch. He hugged her once more before she left, telling her, once again, to call him for just about anything. She thanked him and headed down to her jeep and drove home, feeling some what better about things.

* * *

Lorelai trudged into Luke's on Monday, several bags from the dry cleaners in her hand, and collapsed into a stool at the counter.

"I already had the longest day of my life. And oh, look, it's only ten. How nice," she said with a sigh as she piled her garment bags on a stool beside her. "And I managed to spend this entire day on the verge of throwing up."

"Pleasant," said Luke as he stopped by and deposited a glass of juice in front of her.

"This is not coffee," she said slowly like she was pointing this fact out to a small child. She pushed the glass towards him, waiting for him to pick it up and place it in front of the person who had actually ordered it.

"You're right," he said, leaning on the counter and pushing the juice back towards her, a small smile gracing his face. "I can give you herbal tea."

"This is not an herbal tea morning, or a juice morning. This is a coffee morning," she assured him, pushing the juice away.

"Are you sure?" he asked, waving the coffee pot under her nose. He watched as she paled for a moment and then pushed the juice back towards her. "Juice first. Then you can harass Sookie for coffee. I hear her stuff doesn't make you sick."

"Jealous?" she asked with a small smile.

"Not at all. In fact, I kind of like the idea of not helping you kill yourself." Lorelai pouted slightly, hoping to make him reconsider.

"But she rations it," Lorelai wined as she finally accepted the juice. "And puts something in it now. I don't know what."

"And don't think I won't too, when you start ordering it again." He pointed a finger at her. "Nutmeg?" Luke asked.

"No, different," she assured him as she glanced around at the offerings of muffins and donuts on the counter. "Blueberry?" she asked hopefully.

"You wanna know what this stuff does to your central nervous system?" he asked, pointing to the coffee pot before he put it down to get the requested muffin.

"Ooh. . . Do you have a chart? Cause I love charts," she said with a smile. "Warmed please."

"Forget it, kill yourself and mutate that kid," he said with a shrug. She smiled. Rory had been suitably impressed when Lorelai related the conversation she'd had with Luke on Saturday night. "So, what happened this morning that was so awful?" he asked as he handed her the newly warmed up muffin. Lorelai quickly related the entire story of how her furry alarm clock hadn't purred, ("Purred?") how all her good clothes had been at the dry cleaners because she hadn't had the energy to pick them up on Saturday afternoon and the place was closed on Sunday. She ended the dramatic recap with Emily's presence in the headmasters office.

"And," she said as she finished the juice. "To top it all off, the little Hitch Hiker has decided that it doesn't like the smell of _anything_ that I normally eat." Luke frowned a little at the end. "Oh well. You know what? Never mind. I gotta go. I had a plan damn it," she said as she grabbed the bottom half of the muffin, gathered the clothes and headed for the door.

"Me too," Luke called after her. "Next time, you're getting tea!"

* * *

"Because talking to my mother is _always_ high on my list of things to do while in a rush and nauseous. . . " she muttered as she sat on the couch after the call from her mother. Chilton clothing. Why on earth did she possibly think that Rory would need all of that? And a parking space? A car? Unbelievable. She sat for a moment longer before picking her blue suit out of the pile and headed upstairs to shower and get ready for work.

"Okay. . . I look great, right?" she asked as she marched into the kitchen at the inn and interrupted the argument between Sookie and Jackson for a moment.

"Yes," Sookie replied, with a smile as she wiped her hands on a dish towel before getting a cup for Lorelai.

"Yes, see, this is how I was supposed to look this morning. Good morning Jackson."

"Oh my God, today was Rory's first day!" she said excitedly as she partially filled the cup before handing it to Lorelai.

"Yes, and I was supposed to look together and fabulous and not like I'd been up all night playing quarters," Lorelai replied as she headed to the fridge and added some cream to the coffee.

"Nobody cares how you looked," Sookie assured her.

"Everybody cared. The other moms, the headmaster, my mom, Luke, Miss Patty, the new fire chief with the tiny little head. . . " she trailed off before taking a bite of the peach Sookie offered. "A little watery," she concluded, hanging onto the piece of fruit none the less.

"Oh, now you planned this!" Jackson cried. Sookie and Lorelai ignored him as they carried on with their conversation

"She knew I'd wake up late and dress like a cowgirl and humiliate myself," Lorelai lamented, taking another bite of the peach.

"Wow, she's good," Sookie concluded as she picked out another peach to roll on the ground.

"The best," Lorelai agreed as she watched the peach come to a stop a few inches from her. She was just getting into the banter between the chef and her produce man when Michel entered the kitchen and informed her of a phone call. She raised an eye brow at Sookie and Jackson before leaving with Michel, peach and coffee in hand.

"Did I really just see Lorelai Gilmore eating a piece of fruit?" Jackson asked as she left the kitchen.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

The rest of the morning had passed quickly for Sookie, except for those 5 minutes where she was desperately trying to convince Jackson that yes, Lorelai did eat fruit willingly at times, without trying to seem desperate about it. He seemed to accept her explanation after a while, thought she had a feeling that he was still doubting her. Sookie wouldn't have gone out of her way to make up an excuse, but she was pretty sure that Lorelai was keeping things on the down-low for now and she was determined that this time, she wasn't going to be the one to let the cat out of the bag.

"Hey Chickey," Sookie greeted Lorelai when she slunk into the kitchen in the late afternoon. "How ya doin'?"

"Tired. Sick. Hungry," she replied as she sat down. "I'm starting to believe in the selective amnesia theory regarding pregnancy and birth because, honestly? I don't remember feeling this crappy with Rory. At any point. Well, labour, but, yeah," she finished as Sookie placed a muffin in front of her. "I also got asked out," she mentioned casually as she picked at the muffin, making no real effort to eat it.

"By who?" Sookie asked excitedly as she leaned on the table opposite Lorelai.

"A Chilton Dad, the Chilton dad I met when I was dropping Rory off."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he drove all the way from Hartford to ask me out."

"And you said?"

"I side stepped the issue," she replied, continuing to pick at the muffin. "I mean, Rory's just started at Chilton and I'm, well, occupied." Sookie snickered a little at the joke before growing serious again.

"You could still date him casually. I mean, you're not going to turn celibate again, are you?" Sookie asked, thinking back to when she had met Lorelai and Rory. Rory was about 8 then and Lorelai had admitted, after a few drinks, to not having even been on a date since Rory was born.

"I don't know," she replied as she got up to get a glass of water. "Back then it was because Rory and I were sharing a bed in the potting shed and there was no where to stash her. Now? She might be in high school, but the rules still apply. And honestly? Do I really want to try to have a relationship while growing a person?"

"Married couples do it all the time," Sookie said with a smile.

"Well, yeah, but those are established relationships. Pregnancy isn't really one of those expected 'Oh, by the way,' things you want to hear on a first date."

"Drop the bomb on the 2nd date then!" Sookie said with a laugh that Lorelai shared with her. "Just think about it," she said.

"Yes mom," Lorelai said as she pushed away from the table. "Time to pick up the first born."

* * *

Lorelai heaved a sigh as she sat on the running board of the jeep waiting for Rory to get out. Between her rather odd conversation with Luke about Chilton parents being old, the DSL guys trying to break into her house and the confrontation with her mother, she was ready to sit down and cry.

"Hey you," she said when Rory finally appeared, dragging her back pack along behind her. "Oh," was all that came out after Rory had dropped her backpack and pulled Lorelai into a hug.

"So, this whole plaid-skirt thing. . . My idea?"

"My day sucked too," Lorelai assured her.

"Promise?"

"Swear on my mothers life," she said as she started to pull away from Rory.

"Not yet!" she cried as she held on tighter.

"Oh, still hugging, still hugging," she assured Rory as she held on tighter. "I brought us some coffee," she said, handing Rory a cup that was 3 times as big as her own when they finally broke apart.

"Why, I'm shocked," Rory replied as she took her cup and Lorelai grabbed her backpack. Cracks about how much stuff was in it were made before getting into the jeep. Rory quickly related the antics of the day, mainly being called Mary and Lorelai chuckled as she realised that was still a common insult. "Wow," Rory replied. "Biblical insults. This is an advanced school."

* * *

"So, freaking out at Grandma while she was having her hair done. High point of your day?" Rory asked, later that evening as they wandered home. After they had fed Lane pizza to save her from the Tofu feast that awaited her at home, they had continued to wander through town, their path lit by the fairy lights that were in the trees.

"Definitely," Lorelai replied with a smile before she started to pump Rory for more information about Chilton and the kids in her classes. Rory played along until home was in view and then quickly turned the tables.

"So, Friday?" she asked casually as they went in.

"What about it?" Lorelai asked as she flopped down on the couch and started to surf the channels.

"You're going to tell them?" Rory asked from her room.

"Kid, I haven't even gotten a hold of a Dr. yet. They can wait until I have details to give up."

"Nervous?" Rory asked as she came back out into the living room with her pyjamas on and a book in her hands.

"Of course I am," Lorelai admitted as Rory sat down beside her. "It was horrible for them, for us, the first time this happened, but to have to tell them 'Oops, I slipped up!' again? God, I can hear the disapproval from here," Lorelai said.

"What happened the first time?"

"Yelling. Lots and lots of yelling. Well, silence at first, then crying, then the yelling started.

* * *

"_Lorelai," Emily called out. "LORELAI!" she yelled when she got no answer the first time._

"_What?" Lorelai replied as she came down the stairs to see what her mother was on about this time. "I'm studying."_

"_Who is Dr. Coburn? And why do you have an appointment with her next Wednesday at 4pm?" Lorelai hesitated. She had told the clinic to phone before 4, before her parents got home for the evening._

"_Just a Dr, mom," she said as her mind ran through possible lies. _

"_What's all this yelling for Emily?" Richard asked, coming out of his study. Emily and Lorelai ignored him and kept going._

"_Oh for heaven's sake, Lorelai. Just tell me, it's not like you're pregnant and it's a obstetrician or anything," Emily called out. Lorelai's eyes widened for a moment and, when she thought back on the moment, she wasn't sure if it was because she was shocked her mother had guessed or because her mother had even uttered such a word as obstetrician. "Lorelai. . . " Emily said with her own wide eyes as everything started to make sense. The debutant dress not fitting, the secrecy, that week with the stomach flu, the change in eating habits. . . "Oh good God," she muttered. Richard looked between the two of them for a moment._

"_Some one tell me what the hell is going on!" he demanded as Lorelai darted down the stairs, grabbed the piece of paper out of her mothers hand with the appointment time on it and dashed back up stairs, rushing into her room and locking the door. It wasn't long after that she heard her mother start crying and her father start yelling as he marched up the stairs, determined to get the whole story out of Lorelai._

* * *

"Wow," Rory replied as she sat back on the couch. 

"Oh yeah. Dad gave up after a while and he and mom spent the night arguing about what was to happen. Phone calls were made and before I knew it, your dad had been hauled over to our house, Francine wouldn't stop crying and Straub was raging in furry while Emily tried to shift the blame away from me and your dad sat quietly by, thinking the situation over."

"And what did they decide?"

"Well, Francine thought they should send me away, go and visit my aunt, you know?" Rory nodded. "And Straub was convinced that this was all my fault and your dad held none of the blame what so ever. I was an evil temptress, you understand."

"But of course," Rory replied. "All us Gilmore women are." Lorelai chuckled.

"Dad finally proclaimed that we were going to get married, live with them and Christopher would go to work with my father when he was done high school."

"Wow," Rory added again. "I'm glad things turned out the way they did," she concluded.

"Really?" Lorelai asked. "You could have had everything. All the best clothes, best toys, best education. . . Everything I couldn't afford."

"Maybe. But I wouldn't've had you. Or Mia. Or this town or Lane. . . Besides, I am getting the best education and you make the best clothes. I think we're better off," Rory concluded as Lorelai pulled her in tight for a hug.

"You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that," she muttered into her hair before kissing her on the top of the head.

* * *

The rest of the week passed without incident. Friday night dinner was Friday night dinner and Lorelai was glad when it was over, especially after the little ambush that got Rory roped into a day at the club with Richard so she could learn how to golf. This was at the back of Lorelai's mind all week, even though she was working on a double wedding. Jackie and Jessica Shales, twins, were the brides and, much to everyone's amusement, their husbands were twins as well. The down side to this amusement was that Jackie and Jessica couldn't agree on anything and, being the manager of the Inn, this meant that Lorelai had to mediate all their disputes and make things run smoothly. Between this wedding and Rory going to the club, Lorelai was nearing her wits end.

Needless to say, her wits reached their end a few evenings after Rory and Richard went to the club.

"You're wearing my sweater," Lorelai pointed out to Rory as the pair sat studying outside. After the week she'd had, Lorelai was itching for a fight even if she didn't realise it. Unfortunately for her and Rory, this was just the catalyst she was looking for.

"So?" Rory responded.

"No, it's ok. It's just I thought I asked you to at least ask, you know, before you borrow my stuff."

"I'm sorry," Rory responded, looking up from her book, offering a small smile.

"It's okay," Lorelai replied, tapping her pen on her book. "It's just not too much for a simple 'can I borrow it, mom?' is it?" she asked.

"No, it's not. Jeez, lighten up," Rory replied, not really understanding where this was coming from, but giving a little leeway.

"It's my favourite sweater too," Lorelai added.

"Since when?" Rory asked with a snort of amusement.

"Since always," Lorelai insisted, completely serious.

"This is not your favourite sweater," Rory insisted.

"Yes it is and now it's going to be all stretched out just like everything else you borrow," she argued, really starting to get into this ridiculous fight.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that you take my sweaters and you wear them and you stretch them out," Lorelai insisted again. God, why wouldn't Rory just admit it? Why was she bothering to deny what they both knew was true?

"I couldn't possibly stretch them out!" Rory insisted, not backing down. "You're boobs are way bigger than mine," she tacked on at the end, trying to get back to her book.

"That is not true!" Lorelai argued back.

"Yes it is," Rory argued back. "And they're only going to get bigger. Are you still going to blame me then?"

"We're not talking about later, we're talking about now and right now, your boobs are totally bigger than mine!" she stood up, trying to reinforce her point.

"What?" Rory asked, having no idea how they went from talking about skipping out on Friday night dinner to bra sizes.

"I'm serious. Why don't you get the measuring tape right now?"

"I'm not going to measure my boobs."

"Because you know that you are totally bigger," Lorelai shot back, confident that she was winning.

"I'm going inside," Rory said finally, realizing that the smartest thing to do was to simply leave the conversation.

"Fine, don't measure. We'll just compare bras."

"Stop it!" she yelled back at her mother. She couldn't believe they were actually having this argument, and outside the house too boot. She became even angrier when she remembered that Babette's windows were open. She was sure that Babette and Morey were going to be able to hear all of this.

"When you stop stealing my stuff," Lorelai insisted, in all seriousness.

"You're cracked!" Rory finally yelled as she slammed her book shut, gathered her things and stormed into the house.

"You're. . . bigger," Lorelai finished feebly before sinking into her chair. She brought a hand up and rubbed at her face as what had just occurred dawned on her. "Smooth Gilmore," she muttered as she sat back in the chair. "Very smooth."

* * *

"'Your boobs are bigger than mine'? I'm a mental case," Lorelai lamented to Sookie the next day as they wandered through town.

"You're pregnant," Sookie reminded her. "I think that may factor into this. It doesn't matter, just apologize."

"I was too mad and stupid to apologize last night and she was gone before I got up this morning." Lorelai sighed as Sookie tried to make her feel better. "It's not about the sweater, or raging hormones. it's about the golfing thing and the liking it thing. She had fun just like my mother said she would and I should be happy for her. I want her to have a good relationship with her grandparents." Lorelai related the discussion about Friday night dinner that had preceded the fight.

"You're jealous," Sookie concluded. "You're jealous 'cause they like Rory better than you."

"Thank you for the hug," Lorelai remarked sarcastically. Sookie tried to back pedal and Lorelai stopped her. "I'm all mixed up. I left that life, you know, the club, my parents. I ran from it as soon as I could. It just. . . It never occurred to me that she might want it. It occurred to my mother though," she said, slightly bitter at the end. "God, I hate that she was right."

"You don't know that she. . . Ooh! Oh my God!" Sookie trailed off and rushed across the street without looking, her sights set on the strawberries out side of Doose's market, visions of salvaging her strawberry shortcakes swimming in her mind. In the back of her mind, she knew that Lorelai was still puzzling out this situation between her parents and Rory, but she was too busy picking out berries to really pay attention. Lorelai sighed when she heard Jackson come over and start fighting with Sookie over her 'produce betrayal'. When the pair took off down the street, she knew she was on her own.

* * *

After Mrs. Shales left to go dance to Sister Sledge, Lorelai wandered over to the guest books that were currently being manned by Rory. After some awkward pleasantries, she finally apologized.

"It just never really occurred to me that you might want all . . . That," she said as she pulled Rory close. They pair sat quietly for a moment before turning their attention to the dance floor. They watched as a little girl of about 8 was admonished by her mother for being a kid in the $500 dress her mother had bought.

"Thank you for not putting me in a dress like that," Rory said.

"You're welcome. Of course wearing those dresses. . . Not all bad," Lorelai threw in.

"No?"

"Oh no. They really fly up when you twirl around. And if you're wearing that ruffled underwear . . BIG crowd pleaser," she threw in with a smile that Rory returned.

"If it makes you feel any better, I think I got a fungus from the steam room."

"It does," Lorelai said with a big smile. "Thank you." The rest of the wedding passed largely without incident and the two took the opportunity to catch up on what had happened in the last three days. The main news being that Lorelai had actually found time to squeeze in a Dr.'s appointment.

"And?" Rory asked, trying to keep her cool about things.

"6 weeks along and the big day is predicted as being June 16, but given our unpredictable nature, I wouldn't carve that date in stone."

"But everything's ok?" she asked.

"All systems go," she said with a sigh. "Are we ready for this?"

"No, but we will be," she said. "I emailed dad last night," Rory admitted as she played with a loose thread on the table cloth.

"And?" her mother asked, wondering if Rory had finally tracked him down.

"It didn't bounce back, so I'm assuming he got it. . . But he hasn't replied yet either."

"Did you mention anything?" Rory shook her head.

"No, I just let him know that none of his phone numbers were working and I wanted to have them. He'll probably write back eventually, and I'll pass them onto you. This is between you two."

"My baby is so smart," she said with a smile as she kissed her on the top of the head before they turned back to watch the people dancing again.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

This chapter is definately longer than the rest. I'm finding it hard to find good places to cut so, chapter lengths will vary from this point on.

* * *

"Tonight is the night," Lorelai announced firmly to Rory as they got into the jeep.

"Really?" she asked, balancing the blueberry shortcake Sookie had sent home with them.

"Might as well get it over with. Besides, I think they're starting to wonder why I haven't been guzzling the booze the last 3 weeks."

"Good," Rory said as she flipped through some CDs. "This is good."

"Hmmm . . Please hold all opinions until after the slaughter," she said seriously as she started the jeep and they took off for Hartford. "Just remember, everything is yours except the monkey lamp. I want mom to have to look at it every day after she kills me."

Lorelai pulled the jeep up in front of the house, turned the engine off and then the two of them just sat there for a moment.

"Ready?"

"No," Lorelai said as they continued to sit in the car for a while longer.

"Ready?"

"I guess," she said with a sigh. They finally left the safety of the vehicle and made their way up to the front door, hesitating again for a moment before ringing the bell. When they got in the house, Lorelai was surprised by the warm reception, especially after the presentation of the left over cake.

"How nice," Emily had commented. "I'll just put this in the kitchen next to my half-empty box of Cheer," she finished sarcastically as she handed the box over to the maid.

"She's in a good mood tonight," Lorelai whispered to Rory, who readily agreed and gave her mother the thumbs up sign.

"Can I get you a drink?'

"Water is fine," Lorelai replied.

"Coke," Rory volunteered. Both girls noticed the odd look Emily sent towards Lorelai. After drinks were handed out, the pair were quickly bombarded with questions about Rory's time at the club and did Lorelai think that they should get Rory a member ship? And just as her father walked into the room and she had worked up the nerve to tell her parents, they had whisked Rory out of the room to go and examine a copy of Mencken's _Chrestomathy_ and the first edition of his memoirs.

Lorelai glanced around at the empty living room and sighed before crossing her legs and flopping back against the couch. _Next week_, she assured herself. She'd let them all be happy this week, or at least let them be happier than they usually were. She prove what a disappointment she was next week. She sipped at her water and waited for them to come back into the room and she prepared herself for the excited gushing that would come from Rory.

"Now?" Rory asked when they all came back into the room and she sat beside her mother again.

"Now what?" Emily asked. Lorelai shot Rory a look.

"Zip it," she muttered to Rory. Rory furrowed her brow, confused. They'd had a plan, a good one.

"Now what?" Emily demanded again as she sat on the edge of her chair.

"How long 'til dinner?" Lorelai asked.

"Dinner can wait," Emily said a Richard came back from refilling his drink. "Rory asked you a question and since you are so intent on keeping us from knowing, I think we probably should know." Lorelai glared at Rory again and she made a sympathetic face, but didn't make any effort to take the heat off of Lorelai. "Well?"

"Please Lorelai, I've had a long day and don't want to sit here all night while you and your mother try to out last each other," Richard chimed in.

"I'm pregnant," she finally muttered, squinting her eyes shut, waiting for the yelling to start. Rory nudged her in the side and when she opened her eyes, she was treated to both her parents sitting there, quiet, in shock. "Wait for it," she whispered to Rory.

"What?!?" Emily was the first to yell.

"Right on time," Lorelai muttered as Emily launched in to the 'who, how, when?' speech and her father downed his drink.

"Christopher came to town a couple of months ago," she said when Emily finally stopped yelling. "He said that his company was doing well and he had some meeting or something to go to in New York and decided that while he was up here, he'd take some vacation time and stick around for a while, hang out with Rory and stuff."

"And you couldn't control yourself?" Emily demanded. "Did you learn nothing 16 years ago?" Lorelai sighed, knowing that it wasn't worth trying to defend herself. Emily eventually yelled herself out and stormed off upstairs. Lorelai and Rory turned their attention to their feet, neither feeling a particular need to get Richard's opinion on the matter. He finally spoke up, after having been silent through all of this.

"You're doing well? The Inn is doing fine?"

"Yes and yes," Lorelai said.

"You've informed Christopher?"

"I'm working on it."

"Lorelai. . . "

"His number is out of service again," she cut her father off. "Rory's emailed him and he doesn't seem to be picking up his cell. We're trying, dad," she assured him.

"How far?"

"7 weeks tomorrow," she said quietly, definitely feeling 15 again. He sat back, quiet for a moment.

"I don't suppose the two of you will marry this time?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"He tried to sneak away while I was at work and Rory was at school, Dad. Even if I did want to marry him. . . It just wouldn't work."

"Very well," he said, disappointed. "I'll be in my study." The girls looked at each other for a moment.

"Oh, sure," Lorelai said quietly as she and Rory watched him go.

"Dinner is served," the maid said to Lorelai and Rory. The two of them looked at each other for a moment before heading to the dinning room. There was lamb tonight and the pair of them would never turn down lamb. Richard didn't leave his study for the rest of the time they were there, but Emily did come down eventually and after admonishing the pair for having the audacity to start without her, she sat down at the table and joined them. The meal was awkward and polite, with the conversation focusing on Rory, something Lorelai was grateful for. She was also pleased that the elephant that had been living in the house since Rory was born now had company.

* * *

"Thank you, so much, for your help," Lorelai said to Rory as they climbed back into the car.

"I'm sorry!" Rory apologised as they sped off towards Stars Hollow. "How was I supposed to know you had changed your mind?"

"I don't know, I'm sorry too. I just. . . "

"Yeah, I know," she assured her mother.

"Mommy's gonna be a little moody for a while."

"I know. I remember health class," she assured her.

"Good. Also, do as I say, not as I do."

"Noted," she assured Lorelai as she flicked on the radio and they kept heading towards home. "So, I was wondering. . . "

"About?"

"About a boy."

"Ok movie, but I'm not really sure what you're getting at."

"Dean," she said, glancing over at Lorelai. "The Chilton freak out boy," she specified.

"Ahhhh . . . What about him?"

"He asked me out," Rory said, glancing out the window, watching the scenery whiz by.

"And?" Lorelai prompted, glancing over at Rory for a moment. "You said?" Rory shrugged. "Kid, you almost gave up Chilton for this guy, you said yes, right?"

"No, but I didn't say no either," she said. "There's just so much going on right now and. . ."

"You have school. And you volunteer around town. How is that . . . No," she said with a shake of her head. "You are not bowing out of your social life because mommy's wearing an occupied sign." Rory looked over at her.

"You're not upset?"

"About what? You're 16, about time you had a boy friend. Go for it. Just, don't be afraid to say no if you're not ready. . . For anything. You know?"

"I know," she said with a smile. She'd find Dean at Doose's tomorrow.

* * *

The next morning, Rory slipped out of her room, closing the door behind her as she headed for the coffee pot, pausing for a moment behind Lorelai to see if she was actually reading the paper or if she was just looking at the comics. Rory made a mental note to read that article on inflation rates later. 

"Hey, I have an idea for a new reality show. How about everyone just looks out their freakin' kitchen window for a change?" Rory cocked an eye brow as she poured herself a cup. She hadn't even been sure if her mother had seen her.

"She's cranky this morning."

Lorelai cast a glance back at the music coming out of Rory's room even though the door was closed. "Let's just say the world has a formidable opponent."

"Wait . . . Shouldn't you be baking?" Rory asked.

"I don't know. Shouldn't you be knitting?" she asked casually as she folded the paper and tossed it onto the kitchen table before accepting the glass of milk Rory handed her.

"Mom!" Rory admonished. "The Chilton bake sale is today!" Lorelai agreed, assuring Rory she had it covered. "They expect the things to be _homemade!_"

"I know," she said. "I said I have it covered," she said again when Rory pulled out a Dolly Madison reference. "Rory! It's covered! Get your stuff and hit the stereo. . . We're late."

"Not me," Rory said, opening her door before grabbing her back pack.

"Where does your mother think you are?" Lorelai demanded of Lane who quickly shut off the stereo and grabbed her own back pack, slinging it over her shoulder as she exited Rory's room.

"Oh," she said, calmly. "On a park bench contemplating the reunification of the two Koreas."

"Not here, skanking to Rancid?" Lorelai asked casually as she led both the girls through the house and to the front door.

"Wouldn't be included," Lane confirmed as the trio left the house.

"School!" Lorelai yelled at the girls with a shake of her head. She stood on the porch for a minute as she watched the two teenager rush off towards town before she piled herself into the jeep to head to the Inn to check on Sookie and her contributions to the back sale.

* * *

The Chilton elite were out in full force today, each table trying to out do the others and prove their supremacy to all. Nothing on any of the tables actually looked home made and no one was really stupid enough to believe that all these women had dirtied their hands in the kitchen. Every cake, tart, cookie and square had that perfect look that could only be achieved by personal chefs and high end bakeries. Rory and Lorelai watched as Sookie laid out the spread she had made for them and they both praised her to no end. Lorelai had toured the other tables and people were definitely going to be talking about their offerings. She also made sure to mention that Sookie was hers and worked at her Inn. Yes, they did in fact cater upscale events, yes, their rates were very competitive and no, they had never produced a substandard event.

Everything was going great until Sookie produced a blow torch to finish the Crème Bruler without Lorelai noticing and taking proper precautions.

Lorelai sighed as she watched the table cloth continue to smoke, even after she put it out with the lemon aid. She smiled politely at the ladies selling it after buying a second cup, but quickly wandered back over to Sookie and Rory. She glanced beside her and paused when she saw Max Medina.

"Very Henry the Eighth," he said, nodding towards the table.

"Well, we're not into subtle," she replied.

"Good to see you, Lorelai."

"Good to see you, Mr. Medina," she replied politely.

"Max," he insisted.

"Mr. Medina," she corrected.

"Max."

"Mr. Medina. Meet Sookie, the chef at the Inn," she said, changing the subject.

"What's your name again?" Sookie asked with a smile.

"Mr. Medina," Lorelai filled in with a small smile.

"I know, you've said it like a zillion times," she assured Lorelai with a chuckle. "Hello," she said to Max.

"Hello," he replied. "Lorelai, could I borrow you for a second?" he asked,

"Oh, uh, yeah, sure," she said with a little nod as they started off. "Oh, hey, I'll be right back," she said as she took the little blow torch from Sookie. "Trust me," she said to Max as they wandered past the other tables. As they wandered, they chatted, mostly about Rory and how well he wanted to see her do at Chilton.

"I'm going to propose something here. I'm not sure how you're going to take it," he said, reaching out to grab a hold of her arm and pull her to face him.

"Oh, wow," she said as she glanced down at her feet for a moment. "Intrigue."

"I'd like to see you sometime," he said. He hesitated for a moment before going on. "Away from the ivy, away from the gargoyles, away from here." Lorelai hesitated for a moment.

"Are you asking me out. . . On a date?" she asked with a nervous smile.

"Yes," he answered simply.

"Mm. Well, uh, I don't want to go out on a limb here, but I'm guessing that if the headmaster won't let a kid be 30 seconds late for a test, he'd probably frown on a teacher dating a mom," she concluded. Max informed her that there was no regulation preventing them from dating. She countered that it was probably unwritten.

"Do you want to go?" he asked.

"And Rory would probably freak at the thought."

"Do you want to go?"

"And the other parents would have a field day with this kind of thing."

"Do you want to go?" he asked a third time.

"Yes," she blurted out. "Wait, no," she changed her mind with a little shake of her head. Max spent a few moments trying to change her mind and she kept refusing and making up excuses.

"Come on Lorelai," he said, pleading with her. "Don't make me beg," he said. She sighed.

"I really can't Max. I really, really want to say yes, but I can't."

"Because of Rory," he assumed.

"Partially," she assured him with a shrug. "I have some . . . Personal things going on right now and it really wouldn't be fair to either of us," she explained vaguely, skipping the truth. Max sighed and shuffled his feet a little as he looked anywhere but at her. "I'm sorry," she said.

"No, it's okay," he said with a forced smile finally tearing his gaze away from the ugly fountain they were standing beside. "I understand. If you ever change your mind. . . " he offered.

"I'll look you up," she said with a smile. He bid her good bye, all be it sheepishly, before he headed off, away from the bake sale, towards the school. She sighed as she watched him go before she headed back into the madness to find Rory and Sookie.

* * *

"What was that all about?" Sookie asked when Lorelai came back to their table.

"He asked me out," she muttered, quickly slapping a hand over Sookie's mouth before she could start squealing in joy. "Gonna stay quiet?" she asked. Sookie nodded and Lorelai took her hand away.

"You said yes, right?" Sookie asked in a stage whisper. Lorelai hesitated just long enough for Sookie to answer her own question. "You said no? Why would you say no? Was it Rory?" she asked, all in a row.

"You know why I said no," she muttered as she glanced around to see who, if any one, was listening in on the conversation.

"Ah. . ." she said, understanding. "But you did consider it, right"

"Yep, right up until I kind of wanted to excuse my self to the bushes near by. . . I was never this sick with Rory."

"Maybe it's twins!" Sookie exclaimed excitedly, clasping her hands together.

"Shut your mouth," she said, pointing a finger at Sookie. Sookie chuckled before heading back behind the table to help some customers. Lorelai sighed and headed over to where Rory was standing at the far end of their table and threw an arm over her shoulders.

"What?" Rory asked when she saw the look on Lorelai's face.

"Nothing," she said. "I just have high hopes that this one learns to follow your glowing example early."

"If it knows what's good for it, it will," Rory said, throwing an arm around Lorelai's waist as the two of them headed behind the table with Sookie.

* * *

Today was not a good morning in the Gilmore House. Rory and Lorelai still weren't really speaking after she had been out all night with Dean, Lorelai and Emily were on the outs, again, over the same incident and now Lorelai was running late for work because all her pants and skirts had some how shrunk over night.

"Oh, you're kidding me!" Lorelai complained as she pulled off a 5th pair of pants that wouldn't do up.

"What?" Rory called as she dashed up the stairs, worried that something serious was going on.

"This is not happening! Not yet!" she cried as she dove into her closet, pulling out 3 more skirts to try on.

"What? What?" Rory demanded as she came skidding to a halt just inside Lorelai's room. She may be mad at her mother, but she still loved her. "What happened?" she asked when she saw the clothes strewn around the room.

"Buttons won't button! Zippers won't stay zipped!" she cried as she ditched her flippy blue skirt and started digging around in her closet again. "All of them are too tight already! You were easy! I had no issues until I was three months, nearly four, with you, and even then it was only my debutant dress!" she said as she stuck her head out of the closet and pointing fingers before she turned back to the closet. Rory knew she could help and she hesitated briefly before speaking up.

"Use a hair elastic," Rory muttered from the door way.

"I'm not worried about her hair right now, Rory," Lorelai assured her as she finally pulled on a pair of sweat pants and turned to stare at the mess her room had become, tying to figure out what to do. Rory didn't reply, but she did stalk over to the dressing table. Lorelai noticed and she sighed again. This thing with Rory was just one more pot hole in her day.

"Pick out a skirt, or pants, whatever," Rory said. Lorelai quickly grabbed a pair of black pants. "Put it on," she said as she dug around through the miscellaneous hair accessories until she found a matching hair tie. "Observe," she said as she quickly knotted the elastic through the button hole before looping it around the button. "Voila," she said as she stepped back to admire her handy work.

"Mommy's little engineer," she said with a smile that Rory didn't return.

"Just wear a jacket over it, or don't tuck in your blouse," she said with a shrug before turning and leaving the room.

"Thanks Rory," she said as she turned to look at her self sideways in the mirror. "I suppose. Hey, you ever hear back from your dad?" she called before Rory got too far down the stairs. She also began to gather some of her clothes to put them back on their hangers.

"Not yet," she called out before she continued on her way. Lorelai considered trying appologize again, but this wasn't the kind of thing that should be yelled down a flight of stairs. They needed to sit down and talk about this over burgers at Luke's. Lorelai stopped hanging for a moment and sat down on the bed. She did trust Rory and Dean together, she really did, and she had meant all those things she had yelled at her mother about Rory. But, she had been terrified, waking up with Rory not there, no one having seen her, Emily yelling in her ear about what she should be doing. . .

So she had freaked out on Rory when Emily had left and the two hadn't really talked since. Lorelai consoled herself, slightly, with the thought that things must be getting better if Rory was willing to race up to her bedroom to help her out with a clothing emergency.

* * *

After she had declared her pizza MIA, Lorelai bundled up against New England chill and headed to Luke's. There, she was assured of good, hot food, some conversation and a little distraction from the fact that she had been uninvited from the family Christmas party by her own mother.

She hadn't really meant to tell Luke about being uninvited right away, but she was upset and cold and hungry and it had all just come out. Now her, and the other few people in the diner, were being treated to a patented Luke Danes psychology.

"Why the hell would anyone celebrate Christmas 2 weeks early?" Luke asked after Lorelai informed him of her parents Christmas party.

"Did you even hear the part about me being uninvited?" she quizzed him as she played with the straw in her juice.

"To your parents' fake Christmas party?" he confirmed as he stopped wiping down the counter so he could concentrate on her.

"Yes."

"I did hear that," he informed her.

"Do you care?" she asked in regards to the Christmas party.

"Obviously you do," he concluded for her. He figured now was probably not a good time to tell her that he was glad she hadn't gone because it meant an evening of entertainment for him.

"Yes, I do and I don't know why," she concluded.

"You like going. . ."

"I did."

"Rory's there without you. . . "

"She is," she agreed with a sigh as she started to play with her straw again, starting to get the point Luke was getting at.

"You and Rory aren't getting along right now," he pointed out. "And you feel bad at being separated during a time you usually share together."

"Wow," she said, as she stopped with the straw.

"Did I mention you come here every damn day?" he asked with a small smile.

"I'll have a burger," she said with a smile.

"Coming right up," he said as he returned the smile before disappearing into the kitchen.

"What did you do? You made me a Santa burger!" she exclaimed as she turned the plate so she could see it better.

"It's not a big deal," he shrugged it off.

"No one has ever made me something quite this disgusting before. Thank you," she said with a large smile as she looked back down at the burger that was sporting a ketchup hat with cream cheese trim. It had to be the olives and pimentos that really made the burger something special though, as far as she was concerned.

"You're welcome," he assured her. "Outside!" he called at her when her cell phone went off a few seconds later.

"Are you kidding? It's like the North Pole out there!"

"Hey, this sign isn't just a decoration," he exclaimed, pointing to the 'no cell phones' sign.

"Honey, _nothing_ in here is a decoration," she flirted with him. "Besides, you wouldn't send a pregnant woman out in that cold." She didn't feel awkward about announcing this fact, given that Patty and Babette had some how figured things out not long after the Chilton bake sale and when those two knew something as juicy as this, it was all over town by days end. So she and Rory had answered most of the questions, avoided others and told Kirk to shut up and go away before seeking refuge in Luke's diner for the rest of the day.

"You've put on a little more insulation to keep you warm. Go," he said pointing to the door. She looked at him for a moment, a squeak of indignation escaping her mouth, wondering if she should ask why the hell he was keeping track of something like that before turning her attention back to her phone that had stopped ringing.

"Too late, gone to voice mail," she said with a cheeky little smile as she sat back down on the stool and listened to her messages, straining to hear them after Taylor and his carollers had entered the diner. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed as she heard Rory's message.

"Shut up Taylor," he said, cutting off the older mans attempts to bargain free hot cocoa out of him. "What's going on?" he asked her when he realized something was wrong.

"My father's in the hospital. He collapsed or something. I don't know. I need a cab. I need to call a cab. Where's the phone? I need . . . Can anyone give me. . . I'm holding a phone," she rambled on, standing and wandering a few steps from her stool.

"Whoa, calm down," Luke said as he stopped her from wandering out the door.

"No, I can't calm down, I need a cab," she said as she started trying to remember the number for a cab company. "No, wait, I need to throw up," she said as she rushed towards the back. Everyone in the diner was watching the performance by this point.

"Okay, everybody out! We're closed! Let's go!" Luke hollered to the crowd. "Food's on me!" he remembered to throw in. People grudgingly took a few more bites, finished drinks and reluctantly bundled up to face the cold, but Taylor and his carollers still stood in the middle of the diner. "You okay?" he asked when Lorelai re-emerged, slightly pale and shaky. She nodded. "Put on your coat and get your stuff. Taylor, have your hot chocolate and then lock up," he called over his shoulder so there would be no more arguments as he helped Lorelai get her coat on. "Come on, my truck's out back," he said as he took her hand.

"Luke, I'm . . ." he cut her off before she could finish.

"I know, let's go," he assured her as he led her out the back of the diner and helped her into the truck.

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

Lorelai and Rory hung around the coffee machine for a while, talking about the evening and apologizing for their roles in the whole 'stayed out all night with Dean' fiasco before they slowly wandered back to Richard's room.

"Your mother called me an idiot," Luke informed Lorelai. She smiled.

"You must have sucked up good." He frowned slightly as Emily talked with Lorelai before wandering off with Rory.

"I'll be here," he told her when she had finally worked up the nerve to go in and see Richard. Lorelai wandered into the room quietly and simply stood at the foot of his bed, not saying anything. She was shocked by how small and old he looked. Her father, the 6'5" giant of a man who had caused more than one boy to reconsider why he had called on her, was pale and frail looking in this bed, hooked up to an IV and oxygen. She was a little surprised when he opened his eyes and just as she was about to say something, Rory, Emily and the Doctor rushed back in. She gave him a small smile and a wave before she sunk back and listened. As the conversation was drawing to a close, she silently snuck out of the room.

"I heard, everything's ok," he said quietly as he came around the corner, a mug in his hand.

"Yeah, yeah," she agreed with a small nod. "They're going to keep him over night but. . . He's going to be fine," she got out before she fell apart. Luke stepped over to her and gathered her into his arms as she cried herself out. He knew that this had really scared her and he was a little shocked that she had let herself fall apart like this in front of him, of all people. But he also knew first hand that hospitals had this effect on people, reminding them of their own mortality.

"Hey," he said quietly as he stroked her hair. "Ok, see, here's where the guy is supposed to give the girl a handkerchief, but I don't have one. . . And plus, I find the practice a little revolting so. . . " She snickered a little as she collected herself.

"No, I'm ok," she said, tears still in her eyes.

"You sure?" he asked, wiping a few stray ones away.

"Yeah," she said with a nod.

"Alright. Oh hey, I got this for you," he said, handing her a cup of coffee.

"A whole cup?" she asked, rather shocked. "Where did you get that?"

"Yes, a whole cup," he assured her. "I got it from the nurse's lounge." She arched an eye brow at him as she eyed him over the rim of the mug. He watched, rather amused as she inhaled deeply before sampling the coffee. It looked almost like a religious experience as far as he was concerned. "You're not the only one who can flirt," he said confidently. She looked at him again. "The door was open," he conceded.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. When he offered further help, she asked him to take Rory home so she could stick around and soon, Rory and Luke were on their way back to Stars Hollow.

* * *

It had been a few days since Richard had ended up in the hospital and both Rory and Lorelai had been scarce around the diner. Between worrying about her grandparents and her mother, Rory was trying to study for her Christmas exams and Lorelai was just too busy worrying about her parents while trying to work out a last minute Christmas wedding at the Inn. So, when Luke glanced up from the table he was cleaning when he heard the diner bell ring, he was surprised to see that it was Lorelai slipping in to see him.

"Hello," she said, sounding much more cheerful than the last time he had seen her.

"Hey," he said, standing up from the table. "How's your dad?"

"Better," she said with a smile. "Though he says that life is not life unless it includes a steak," she quoted as she wandered over to him. He gave a short snort and she understood, given his views on red meat. "How come you're not out there with everybody?"

"I had some things to do," he said simply and she didn't argue with that, even though she had a feeling she knew why he really wasn't out there.

"Right, anyways, this is for you," she said as she awkwardly held out the gift bag to him when they met in the middle of the empty diner.

"What's it for?" he asked, taking in from her.

"Just thank you, Christmas, whatever," she shrugged.

"Christmas isn't for two weeks."

"Do we _really_ have to do this again?" she asked as he opened the bag and pulled out a blue baseball cap. "I just thought, you know, God forbid something happens to that one, you might need a spare," she finished as Luke took the old cap off his head and folded the brim of the new one slightly. "Here." She took the hat from him and put it on his head, brim facing forward. He grinded at her from under the cap and she made a face. "Does that look wrong. There!" she said, putting it on him backwards and approving of his appearance. "Oh, hey! Turn out the lights!" she said when she saw the rehearsal going on out side. She quickly wandered over to the window to watch.

"For what?" he asked in typical Luke style. "It's not the real procession, it's just the rehearsal."

"So? It's pretty," she countered with a happy smile.

"And why do they need to rehearse it? It's the same thing every year," he grumped as she raised the blinds from the window so they'd have an unobstructed view.

"Come on Luke, please?" she asked. He obliged and plunged the diner into the dark before wandering over to stand behind her. "It's hard to imagine living somewhere else, isn't it?" she asked without looking away from the window.

"Thanks for the hat," he said, looking out at the square.

"You're welcome. Looks good on you."

"Good how?" he asked, hands in his back pockets as he looked down at her.

"Just watch the procession," she said without looking away from the window. He stared at her a few moments longer, still smiling before he turned his gaze towards the square once again. He was just in time to see the participants begin their walk around the square with their lanterns.

* * *

"Okay, we have got to break down and go shopping," Rory said as she watched her mother paw through her closet. "You've got to give up the delusion at some point and it might as well be now." Lorelai sighed and hugged her clothes. She knew Rory was right and had been for a while, but she had been delaying the inevitable. With Rory, it had been easy. Leggings and big sweaters were in! A pair of leggings, a big sweater. . . Some bangles on her wrist and a scrunchie in her hair and she was good to go but now. . .

"But the elastic trick is still working," she moaned, still hugging her clothes.

"Yeah, as long as you don't sit down or bend over," Rory pointed out. "Why are you fighting this, we love shopping."

"Not this kind of shopping," she muttered into the sweater section. "This kind of shopping is hours of hideous clothing, none of which fits quite right, while complete stranger suddenly think they have the right, no, the duty!! To delve into my personal life while trying to rub my belly." Rory laughed at her mothers rant as Lorelai whispered one last farewell to her favourite pair of jeans and that cute little blue halter top she loved.

"It's not that noticeable . . ."

"It doesn't matter!" she said as she finally moved out of the closet. "The people in those stores. . . They know. They're like pregnancy sniffing dogs! They'll ignore you. Go for me?" she pleaded.

"No way," Rory said. "I can't believe you'd throw me to the dogs like that!"

"I'm desperate. The desperate do crazy things."

"I will go with you, however, and treat you to lunch."

"Coffee?"

"A small one," she said. Lorelai turned on the puppy dog eyes but Rory remained firm.

"Fine," she said as she resigned herself to her fate. "I guess this means shoe shopping too. Ugly shoes. . . Comfortable, but ugly as sin," she muttered as Rory pulled herself off the bed and they headed out of the house, gathering purses and coats as they went.

"Would you like to see if Sookie can come too?" Rory asked her mother like she was a kid.

"Oh, yes!" Lorelai said, her eyes lighting up as she dashed over to the phone.

"We can't be out all day, remember, Donna Reed night tonight!" Rory called. Lorelai's face lit up even more, if that was possible, as she began to spill out the details of their day to Sookie.

"Donna?" Lorelai asked after she hung up with Sookie.

"You're kidding, right?" Rory asked. "You say no to Diana and Dina, but yes to Donna?"

"Ah, you're right, never mind."

* * *

"Does anyone want anything?" Luke said in a rush, trying to move the conversation away from the subject of painting. He wasn't really sure why Lorelai Gilmore had brought up the subject of painting and he was definitely less than impressed that she had brought it up while the diner was in the middle of the lunch rush and Taylor was perched at the counter, listening to everything.

"Uh, yes, I do. I want . . . To know why you won't paint this place," she said, rushing the last part out before looking up at Luke.

"Painting's a pain," he said, grudgingly, like this was a fact that they all should have realised before bringing up the subject. "I'd have to close the place for a day, which I can't afford, or paint it in the middle of the night . . . Which I don't want to do because I hate painting," he leaned on the table to look Lorelai in the eye as he emphasised that fact that he hated painting.

"Ok, how about this? I'll help you. I love to paint," she said with a smile.

"You do?" he asked, not really believing this.

"Yes I do."

"You love it?"

"I want to marry it!"

"You have strange passions," he said.

"She likes washing dishes too. She's multi-faceted abnormal," Rory threw in.

"Ah, come on. We'll drink a couple of beers, well, you'll drink a couple of beers, we'll sing painting songs. . . " Luke snapped back to reality.

"You can't paint, not now," he said.

"Well of course I can't right now, you don't have any supplies. . . Like paint," she pointed out, with that 'Well duh!' quality to her voice.

"No, I mean you can't paint because of the fumes. They can't be good for it. . . Or Sparky," he said as he gestured to the now visible evidence of her pregnancy. Lorelai chuckled at the fact that he looked and sounded like calling the baby Sparky left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Lots of breaks and lots of ventilation. And no oil paint, only latex," she informed him. "Open the windows, turn on the ventilation thing over the stove, a couple of fans to keep things moving. . . " she suggested. Luke chewed on his bottom lip as he debated this.

"Lots of breaks. . . "

"Mm-hmm," she said with a nod and a smile

"Well," he said, still mulling things over. "I guess. If you play by my rules," he said firmly. She smiled and nodded, knowing that he meant business. It didn't really matter though, she had no intention of really fighting him on any rules he came up with.

"Really?" Taylor blurted out from his place at the counter as he spun around on his stool to face the little group at the table. "Oh my God! That's wonderful! Hurrah!"

"Taylor, it's not for you, it's for me," Luke said quickly as Taylor moved to stand behind him.

"I can't wait to tell the rest of the committee. They're not going to believe this!" he said as he rushed out of the diner to start spreading the news.

"I hate that he's pleased," Luke lamented.

"Ah, you'll drop a gum wrapper on the street in front of his store later," Lorelai told him with a wave of her hand.

"Yeah," Luke agreed, still distracted about Taylor. "Good idea." Rory looked over at Lorelai, to see if she thought he was serious. Lorelai offered a little shrug before Luke wandered off without taking their order.

* * *

Lorelai and Luke had been in the diner, alone, for a few hours discussing paint colours. He'd had a couple of beers and was starting to open up to her and answer just about any question she asked him. This was the time she really like to spend with Luke, when no one else was around. He wasn't a talkative guy but when she got him alone in the diner, usually after begging for a late night coffee, they tended to sit and chat for a few hours before she finally left. Tonight was really no different and as he took a little tour of the diner, she started to ask questions.

"How come you opened a diner? Why didn't you keep it a hardware store?" she asked as he stopped by the shelves in the back with his beer in hand.

"I don't know," he said. "I didn't love the hardware business the way my dad did, and you know, I knew how to cook, so I thought a diner would be more. . . Fun," he admitted finally with a shrug. She laughed.

"That's a hard word for you to say." He laughed too.

"Yeah. I just always wanted to work here. Just where dad did."

"God that's nice," she said sincerely. "To be so . . . I don't know. . . Connected to your dad. That's. . . I would have loved that," she confessed to him, playing with the straw in her glass of pop.

"Well you've got that with Rory."

"Yeah," she said with a smile. "I guess so." The pair fell into silence for a moment.

"You know," he finally said. "I still think there's a spot on the wall somewhere where my dad took an order one day when he ran out of paper."

"Really? Where?" she asked, shifting on her stool.

"I dunno. Behind the counter maybe?" he suggested as he wandered over. She slid off the stool and headed behind the counter. "Next to the door. On the right side," he directed her as he followed her.

"Oh, huh. Here it is," she said as she eased herself down to the floor. "_Three hammers, Philips-head screwdrivers. . . _"

"_and three boxes of nails in assorted sizes_," he finished as he sat down beside her. "I've seen it from time to time," he admitted with a smile and a laugh that she shared with him.

"Let's not spruce this particular spot," she suggested.

"That sounds good," he agreed with a nod.

"Ok," she said as they lapsed into silence. The smiles slowly fell off their faces and, thinking back on the moment later, she realized Luke had started to drift towards her, only to stop when they heard Taylor and his gang outside the diner, discussing paint colours and snapping pictures. "They'll go away," she assured him as she stopped him from getting up. "They'll go away, trust me. Shhh . . ." she said as she put a hand on his arm to keep him still. Slowly, she got up on her hands and knees and peaked around the corner of the counter while he did the same.

"Thank you," he said after the crowd had left, leaning so close to her that he could feel the heat radiating from her.

"You're welcome," she told him with a smile as she looked at him over her shoulder. Another long moment of silence fell over them. "Oh," she said as she got off her hands and knees and sat against the counter.

"What? What's wrong?" he freaking out slightly about what might be wrong.

"I think Sparky here just said hi," she told him with a smile before grabbing his hand.

"What are you . . . Wow," was all he got out when he felt it too. She smiled at him too and they fell into silence again.

"I should go," she whispered, finally letting go of his hand and trying not to break the stillness.

"Okay," he said after a moment, standing first before helping her to her feet.

"So, it's going to be great," she assured him.

"Oh, I'm sure it is."

"See ya," she said as she grabbed her coat and her purse.

"See ya," he said with a smile and a sigh, kicking himself slightly for yet another lost opportunity.

* * *

Not even an hour later, Lorelai was calling Luke, frantic that Rory's chick had gotten out of her cage and could he _please_ come over and help her find this thing. He had come over, not really sure why because she couldn't possibly have a real chick loose in the house, but, there they were and suddenly, there was the chirping. After another hour or so of tearing apart her house, she had Stella firmly in her grasp.

"She's never going anywhere ever again!" Lorelai exclaimed as she put Stella the chick back in her cage and made sure the door was closed tightly. As she rambled on about super glue and staples, Luke cleaned up the lamp he had broken in his frantic leap over the chair.

"Ask Stella," he replied to her when she asked if super glue was cruel.

"You don't have to do that," she assured him when she saw him carrying the box full of broken lamp.

"This stuff is sharp. I want to get it out of the way," he said with a shrug as he put a bowl in the sink.

"Well, thanks for helping," she said as she turned back to Stella for a moment. As he left the house, she watched him go, still wondering what he had really thought she meant when he had said "There really is a chick in here." She thought of something else to ask Luke but was distracted when she saw Dean outside and then her train of thought was further derailed when she saw Rory in her 1950's Donna Reed outfit. Soon, it was completely forgotten while she and Rory searched for Morey and Babette's kitten, Apricot.

"Well, that was fun," Lorelai said sarcastically as she and Rory collapsed on the couch. It was 1 am by the time they found the kitten, asleep in the piano.

"Let's do it again some time," Rory added.

"Did you ever hear back from your dad?" Lorelai asked as they slumped on the couch. Rory hesitated. "There are only two possible answers kiddo," she informed her and she looked over at Rory.

"No," she said. "Never got an answer to the email. I tried again a couple of weeks ago, but nothing."

"Well," Lorelai sighed. "I guess he's going to get a rude surprise the next time he shows up."

"I started reading Charlotte's Web again," Rory brought up.

"And?"

"Fern?"

"And you thought Donna was bad," Lorelai said, shaking her head. "Hey, why are we only picking girl names?" Rory looked at her and shrugged.

"Charlotte?"

"Totally makes it to the list," she said as she pulled a battered piece of paper out of her pocket and Rory handed her one of the pens they had found in their travels through the house.

"So, what was Luke doing at our house?"

"What was Dean doing over here?" Lorelai countered. The Gilmore Girls simply looked at each other, both unwilling to defend their choice of company to the other.

* * *

While Rory and Lorelai were out walking the next day, a hasty decision to stop at Doose's was made. When asked why, Lorelai confided that she needed fruit. When she didn't volunteer any more information, Rory again asked why and by the time they reached the market, Rory was still shaking her head about Lorelai's self diagnosis of either scurvy or getting a cold as reasons why they needed to buy fruit at Doose's.

"This couldn't possibly be because your body has finally realized it's growing a whole other person and needs something other than pizza and Twinkies to accomplish that?"

"Nope," Lorelai said without hesitation. "Scurvy or a cold," she confirmed as she grabbed an orange and Rory grabbed a few apples. They both turned at the sound of a motorcycle buzzing through town, an unusual occurrence.

"Damn motorcycles, they're a scourge," Taylor Doose said as he stuck his head out of his market.

"Yeah," Lorelai and Rory both replied. As they continued to watched the motorcycle buzz around the town square.

"They're loud, they're dangerous. We should ban them from town." Lorelai came back with a snappy suggestion about barricades and blockades at the border. Rory and Lorelai both smiled when Taylor seemed disappointed that if they did do such a thing, it would be illegal.

"Oh, got to get away from that noise!" Taylor said finally as he scurried back inside. Lorelai and Rory giggled at his performance before turning their attention back to the bike. Lorelai put on an impressive show of motorcycle knowledge for Rory before they turned to head into Doose's market.

"Hey," the rider called out to them after he had parked and dismounted.

"Hi," Lorelai called cautiously, casting a glance over her shoulder.

"Nice shirt. Take it off," he called out again as he took off his helmet. Lorelai turned around this time to give this guy a piece of her mind.

"Christopher," she said calmly, drawing out all the syllables in her name when she saw who it was.

"Dad!" Rory yelled excitedly as she tossed her apples back on the display bins and ran to him, jumping into his arms as she wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug.

"Hey!" Christopher said happily as he swung her around before putting her on the ground. "Hey. . ." he said to Lorelai, rather distracted once he had noticed her. . . condition.

"This is great! What are you doing here? Did you get my emails?" Rory asked all at once as Lorelai wandered over to them.

"No, I didn't. But I'm here to see you. And your mom who is _really_ making me wish I had gotten those emails. Lor. . ."

"Not here, Christopher," she said with a shake of her head. Christopher finally pulled his eyes away from Lorelai and focused on Taylor who was staring at them.

"That's Taylor Doose. He sees all and knows all," Rory supplied as the group looked back at him once more, just in time to see him duck back into the market.

"We need to talk," Lorelai finally said after a long moment of awkward silence.

"Ummm . . Yeah, I can see that. Your place?" he asked as he led Rory to his bike and handed her a helmet. "Hop on."

"Hop off."

"Hop on."

"Hop off," Lorelai said again. Rory fidgeted with the straps on the helmet she was holding, not looking at either of them. Christopher turned his own puppy dog eyes on. "Is Lane free right now?"

"I think so, why?" Rory asked. She had a feeling that she knew what this was about, but wanted to be sure.

"I think you should find out, and then make yourself scarce for a while. Daddy and I need to have a little. . . Chat," Lorelai finished. Rory glance from one parent to the other before handing Christopher back the helmet.

"I'll call you before I come home?"

"Good plan, babe," Lorelai said.

"See ya later, dad," she said, giving him a hug. "Don't kill him," Rory whispered to her mother before she headed off to Kim's Antiques.

"I'll see you at home," she told Christopher as she headed back to her jeep without looking back.

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

Because I love you kids, the'discussion'.

* * *

Lorelai paced around the house a little as she waited for Christopher to show up. She was in the middle of a vision of him hoping on his bike and skipping town when he cautiously entered the house.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, rather calmly when he wandered into the house. Christopher considered a flippant remark before he saw the look on her face.

"My parents are back in Connecticut, so I'm here to see them and I figured I'd come see you and Rory while I was here. Is it mine?" he asked, coming to stand in front of her but wisely keeping the couch in between them.

"Well, I'm not sure, because I usually host orgies that you don't know about. . . Yes, of course it's yours!"

"I just. . . It was only once. . . "

"Well, once is all it seems to take with us," she shot back as she crossed her arms. He did the same and they fell into silence for a moment as they each tried to stare the other down.

"Why didn't you call?" he asked, breaking first. "I think something like this would have at least warranted a 'Hey, by the way. . . ' phone call."

"Why wasn't your phone in service? Why was your cell phone never on? How the hell do you go months without checking your email?" she demanded. How dare he accuse her of hiding this!

"I never got any email!" he called back. "Jesus! Do you think that I would ignore an email from you? Or from Rory?"

"What about the phones? How hard is it to pass along a new number?" she called to him, both of them starting to raise their voices.

"I was moving around a lot! My number changed every week and a half! My parent's didn't even have it! Jesus, Lor!"

"See, that's the great thing about cell phones, they're portable. So when you move, their number doesn't change!"

"I had to cancel it, things were tight!" he yelled back, trying desperately to find something to say that would explain their inability to contact him.

"Again, you couldn't call?!?" She asked, throwing her hands in the air as she moved from her side of the couch and came to stand directly in front of him, toe to toe. "Hell, even here in the ass end of nowhere we have an invention called a pay phone! It's an amazing invention, I'm sure you've seen one before?"

"OK! I screwed up!" he finally admitted. "I'm sorry!" he yelled at her.

"I don't want you to be sorry, Christopher! I want you to be here, to keep your promises!" she yelled at him. The both fell silent for a moment as they regrouped.

"I'm here now," he said, rubbing his hands up and down her arms, trying to sooth her. "I promise I'll be here, if that's what you want."

"God damnit Christopher!" she yelled, shrugging his hands off of her. "We're not doing this again! I'm not doing this again!" She quickly made some space between them again. She couldn't afford to have him worm his way back onto her good side.

"A little late for that," he said with a smile, missing what she was talking about while trying to diffuse her anger. She made her 'what the hell?' face at him as she gathered her thoughts.

"So not a time to joke around," she clarified for him, poking him in the chest as she walked back over to him. "I can't pick up the pieces again, I won't pick up the pieces again," she clarified for him. "I'm having enough trouble keeping things together right now as it is. I haven't really even had time to sit down and have a good cry about this and believe me, I really want to because I'm already mad at you for convincing me you were going to stick around and I'm mad at me for believing you and for not being more careful and for putting my parents through this humiliation again and I'm mad that Rory thinks she has to look out for me and worry about me even though she's only 16 and should be worrying about what shade of lip gloss her boy friend will like best. . ."

"Boy friend? Rory has a boy friend?" Christopher asked, interrupting her rant.

"Yes, but that's not the point. PAY ATTTENTION!" she yelled at him. "I have the entire town gossiping about us, about me! About how I can't say no to you, about how you left me again and why, why can't Lorelai hang on to the father of her child? Well, children now. . . But that's not the point!" she yelled, getting back on track. "The point is that you can't just come and go from our lives any more, you can't just pop in and out when ever you want to, when ever the mood strikes you."

"This was never a problem before," he said back.

"You're right, it wasn't. It wasn't a problem before because we were teenagers and I didn't expect you to commit to us full time. But it's different now, Chris. We're in our 30's now, we're not kids anymore! It's time to step up and face the music!"

"So what? You're casting an all or nothing ultimatum?" he asked her, not really believing this.

"Yes," she said confidently. "I am. You are either in or you're out. I'm not giving the 'Daddy had to go back to work. No, he didn't leave because of you, he loves you so much!' speech again. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of looking into a set of eyes, full a tears, and trying to explain why you flaked out on them. Again. Why you forgot their birthday, Christmas, what ever again! Of trying to explain to them why we're not ever really going to be a family! Again!" The two of the stood as close to each other as they could manage, each seething in anger, preparing for the next round.

"Lorelai! Lorelai, you alright doll?" Babette called as she came scurrying into the house. "I heard yellin'," she explained as she came to a halt in the foyer. "Who's this?" Lorelai whipped her head around to face Babette. "Ah, maybe I'll come back later," she said sheepishly when she saw the look in Lorelai's eyes.

"I think that would be best, Babette," she said with a forced smile as Babette quickly returned from whence she came.

"You can't just cut me off from Rory, from this kid . . .they're my kids!" he yelled at her, picking up from where they left off.

"Why the hell do you care, Christopher? Why do you care now? I know you're not going to be around 90 of the time and you know it too! There's always something, _someone_, more fun out there. Do you even tell your girlfriends that you have a kid? Do you explain to them who the two of us are when they ask after seeing a picture of us, or do you just side step the issue?"

"That's not fair, Lor. . ."

"You're right, it's not fair to Rory that you only acknowledge her existence when it's convenient for you. You can't have a part time family Christopher! It doesn't work like that in the real world!" She tried to catch her breath as he stood there in silence, not sure how to respond to her. Before she could dig into him again, his cell phone went off. "We're not done," she said as he picked it up and answered it.

"Hello?" he said, a little harsher than he would have liked to. "Emily, hi. No, no, everything's fine," he assured her, trying to calm down. "Really, well, I'm here with Lorelai right now, Oh yeah, sure. Just a second," he said as he handed the phone to her. "It's your mother."

"Hi mom," she said, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice.

"Guess what?"

"What mom?"

"Christopher is in town!" she exclaimed, sounding very excited.

"Really? I had no idea. Who the hell have I been talking to for the last 10 minutes?" she asked sarcastically. Emily ignored her.

"Well I had this wonderful idea. Christopher's parents are in town too. You remember Straub and Francine, don't you?"

"Ah yes, the Schnickelfritzes," she said sarcastically, willing this conversation to end quickly.

"The who?"

"The Hayden's," she clarified.

"Well, I called them up and invited them to dinner. They said they are free to join us all on Friday night. You, Rory, Christopher, your father. . . "

"That's quite a gathering mom."

"Well, I should say so. We haven't all been together since the two of you were children. And Straub and Francine haven't seen Rory since she was a baby."

"Yeah, I know but. . ." she was cut off.

"It'll be like a wonderful reunion . . . All of us together again. I never thought it would happen!"

"Mom, now really isn't a great time to meet them again," Lorelai finally got out.

"Why on earth not?"

"Well, let's start with the small detail that they don't really like me at all and end with the fact that I'm 5 months pregnant with Christopher's baby."

"It will be fine Lorelai, they'll be thrilled."

"Like you and dad were thrilled when I told you?" she blurted out. "What planet are you from?"

"Lorelai!" Emily exclaimed.

"And how could you forget the last time we were all together? They did nothing but sneer at Rory and insult me and it was horrible!"

"Don't over exaggerate. I expect to see you all here by 7," and with that, Emily hung up.

"Because this is _exactly_ what I want to deal with right now," she muttered as she handed Christopher back his phone before rubbing her forehead, trying to stave off the headache she felt coming on. She saw Christopher open his mouth and was about to tell him to cram it when her phone rang. "Hello?"

"Mom? You're not done are you? Are you going to be done by the time I get home? Because Mrs Kim is making dinner and wants to know how much tofu and soy beans to make and I really don't want to have to tell her to make enough for me too," Rory lamented from the other end of the phone.

"We're done," she said as she purposefully looked at Christopher. "Head home."

"Is. . .is dad still there?"

"Yeah, he's still here," she said. "He'll be here when you get here," she assured Rory as she looked right at Christopher.

"Great! I'll get there as soon as I can!" Lorelai hung up the phone and could swear that she could hear Rory's smile over the phone.

"Rory's on her way home," she told Chris as she hung up the phone and headed upstairs.

"Lor," he said as he started to follow her.

"No," she stopped him. "You can stay down here, you can drink the coffee or eat what's in the fridge or watch TV, but we are done. I can't deal with you any more right now, not if I'm gong to have to deal with all the parents tomorrow night," she said. She continued up the stairs when she was sure he was going to stay on the ground floor. She slammed the door to her bedroom and paced for a while as the adrenaline dissipated, finally collapsing on the bed and dissolving into tears, deciding now was as good a time as any to indulge in that crying jag she had been putting off.

* * *

"Hey!" Rory said again as she jumped into Christopher's arms again. "What happened?" she asked when he put her back on the ground and he saw her face. "Where's mom?"

"We had a fight, that's all, nothing major," he said with a smile. "She's upstairs, resting," he lied. Rory studied him for a long moment.

"Mom?" she called as she rushed up the stairs. "Mom?" she called again as she opened the door to her bedroom slowly. "What happened?" she asked as she came over to sit beside Lorelai and wrap her arms around her. Lorelai shook her head and sniffled.

"Just a fight," she told Rory. "I'm just over reacting."

"A fight about what? About dad? The baby? What?"

"Everything, Rory," she said as she got up and headed for the bath room, Rory on her heels. "Him, you, me, the baby. . . Commitment, family obligations. . . You name it, we yelled about it. Even Babette came over to check on us," she said with a chuckled as she washed her face.

"I don't understand," she said as she sat on the toilet. Lorelai shook hear head.

"He still wants to come and go as he pleases, like when you were little and I said no. I told him he was either in or out this time, that I wasn't going to give the 'it's not your fault' speech again, to another kid." Rory stayed silent as she thought about this.

"So, you want to keep the baby from him? Me from him?"

"No, Rory, I never want that. I want him to be constant in your lives. I don't care if he visits regularly, but if he's going to be in our lives, I want it to be constant, even if it's just a phone call every week or an email every week."

"So, it's a grow up kind of thing?"

"Yes. The door is _always_ going to be open for him to see you and the baby, I can't stop him from doing that, I don't want to stop him, but I do want things to be easier. For everyone." The Gilmore Girls lapsed into silence again.

"What if he doesn't? I mean, what if he doesn't change?"

"I don't know, babe," she said as she wandered over to where Rory was sitting. "I was mad and we were yelling. . . Don't worry about it," Lorelai finally said as she pulled Rory up. "I'll sleep on it, your dad will sleep on things, you will sleep on things and we'll figure it out before he leaves, ok?"

"Ok," Rory said.

"Okay," she said, pulling Rory in for a hug. "I'll make sure things are okay before he leaves, I promise."

"No matter what?"

"No matter what," she assured Rory. "Hope?"

"I thought we ruled that out along with Charity, Faith, Chastity any precious or semi-precious stones as well as most colours?" Rory ticked the forbidden names off on her fingers.

"Right. Olivia?"

"Mmmm, potential," Rory agreed.

"Ollie?"

"Liv?"

"Maybe?"

"Yep."

* * *

After Straub and Francine had stormed out of the Gilmore house, everyone scattered. Rory went and hid in the kitchen where Emily later found her, Christopher went for a walk and Lorelai wanted nothing more than to go home and change so she could help Luke paint. That urge was even stronger after trying to talk to her father about the way he had defended her and Rory to Straub. Her father's true feelings finally came out in a thundering rant that shook her too her core and forced her upstairs to her room and out onto the balcony.

"Hey, you look great," Christopher called with a smile as he climbed through her window. She wiped at some tears as she looked up at him. "I'm sorry," he said as he came to stop in front of her, taking off his jacket and dropping it over her shoulders.

"Bringing up Bush really did seem like a good idea," she said quietly and he couldn't help but grin again.

"Everything you said was true. I'll try harder, Lor," he said as he took one of her hands in his. "I can't say I'll be here, but those phone calls? The emails? I'll make those." Lorelai smiled.

"Good, because I didn't know what I was going to do if you didn't agree to them at least." They both chuckled as he pulled her up off of the cold stone balcony. "Chris. . " she started before he hushed her and kissed her. "No, Chris, stop," she said, pushing him away.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I just. . ."

"I know," she said. "Maybe we should. . ."

"Yeah," he said with a sigh as he moved away from her and held the window open for her. Lorelai caught a glance of a clock in her room.

"Oh no," she said when she saw the time. "I have to call Luke," she said as she headed over to the phone that was still in her room.

"Who's Luke?" he asked.

"A friend," she said as she dialled the diner. "He owns the diner in town, keeps me and Rory fed and in coffee. I'm helping him paint the diner tonight. Hey, Luke!" she said when he finally picked up. "I'm late, I'm sorry, we're leaving right now. . . Yeah, I'll just drop Rory and Christopher off, change and head over. 40 minutes at the most. . . Yeah, ok. . . Bye," she said as she hung up. "Ready to call it a night?"

"Are you sure you should be painting a diner?" he asked as he followed her out of her old room.

"I won't be climbing any ladders," she told him. "We asked the guy at the paint store. Plenty of breaks and good ventilation and I'll be fine. We'll be fine," she assured him as they wandered around the ground floor until they found Rory and Emily. "Hey kid, you ready to take off?" she asked, stealing a piece of asparagus off of Rory's plate.

"Already?" Emily asked.

"It's nearly 9:30 mom," Lorelai pointed out. Emily, having lost track of time, quickly agreed and called Richard to say good bye, but he refused to leave the study. She fumbled for excuses before Lorelai assured her it was okay, let him calm down. "We'll see you next Friday, mom," Lorelai said as they left.

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

* * *

Emily said her good byes and ushered the three of them out the door before she headed to the study.

"Richard?"

"What now, Emily?" he asked, not looking up from the stamps he was matting.

"You should talk to Christopher," she said as she came in and sat down in one of the chairs across from the desk.

"About what?" he asked, finally looking up at her.

"About this situation he and Lorelai seem to have found themselves back in."

"Honestly Emily, do you think I haven't considered that?" he asked her as he got up to get him self a drink.

"Well then, talk to him!"

"Were you in the living room tonight?" he asked her. "He couldn't even defend her from his parents. The mother of his children was being attacked and he just sat there. As much as I would love for them to marry, like they should, he doesn't deserve them," he finally admitted.

"It doesn't really matter what he deserves!" Emily countered. "She's pregnant. When you get pregnant, you get married!"

"Not this time," he said calmly as he sat back down at his desk. "I will not fight with her about it this time!"

"Fine, I will then," she said as she turned to leave.

"Do you really want to lose her again?" he asked her. Emily stopped dead in her tracks for a moment.

"No," she said. "But I also don't want to feel as though I should have to defend myself when ever we go out!" she yelled at him before slamming the door on her way out. Richard sighed as he turned back to his stamps. This was pretty much the same argument they'd the first time this subject had needed to be broached and, ironically, it had ended the exact same way.

* * *

"Rory, why don't you find some blankets for the couch," Lorelai suggested when they got home.

"Really?"

"Sure," Lorelai said as she gave Rory a hug and headed upstairs to change. "I'll see you in the morning," she said.

"You're really going to stay up all night and paint?"

"Gonna try," she said with a smile. "See ya later Sweets," she said as she left the house and headed to the diner.

* * *

"Any touch ups?" Luke asked as he stepped off the ladder to admire their work. He had painted all the higher shelves as well as the top half of all the walls and trim while she had taken any surface that would allow her to sit. It had taken the better part of the night, but they had finished painting the diner.

"I think we're done," she said as she sat heavily in a chair with a sigh and a yawn. He smiled as he wandered over to stand beside her.

"Tired?"

"Exhausted," she said as she leaned against his side, closing her eyes for a moment. He chuckled and put an arm around her shoulder as he surveyed his domain before glancing at his watch.

"Hey, we still have a few hours before I have to open, do you want to head up stairs and crash for a while? Lorelai?" he asked when he got no answer. He glanced down at her and shook his head. "Hey, sleepy head, wake up," he said as he gave her a little shake.

"What?" she asked him with a yawn.

"Up stairs," he said as he helped her up and led her to the stairs. "Go to bed. You can head home when you wake up," he said as he ushered her into his apartment and sat her on his bed. "Here," he said, handing her a pair of clean sweatpants and a t-shirt.

"I can't kick you out of your bed," she said as she accepted the clothes.

"The couch is good enough for me," he said. "Besides, I have to be up in a few hours to open the diner," he explained as he grabbed another pair of pants and a t-shirt for himself and headed into the bathroom to shower and change. She had shook him off when he had offered to let her use it first. Since she hadn't really had to use any large rollers and she had worn a hat, her hair was free of paint. She scrubbed her hands over her face before changing into the offered clothes and crawling into bed.

Luke emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, leaving the light on before he wandered over to her, making sure she was tucked in.

"Luke? Mom's name?" He smiled at her sleepy request. He had heard that she and Rory had started polling people for names.

"Abigail," he said. "Abby." She settled and when he was satisfied, he crawled off to bed himself.

* * *

Lorelai had made it home some time after 10 the next morning and had immediately gone up stairs and crawled into bed. When she finally emerged that afternoon, Rory was there with a cup of coffee, ready to quiz her on the nights events.

"You slept with Luke?" she asked, shocked at her mother.

"No!" she admonished as she found some clean clothes and headed for the bathroom. "He slept on the couch and I took the bed. Such a gentleman," she said. "Anything else? Or can I shower before the inquisition continues?"

"Go, go," Rory shooed her before heading down stairs to clean up from break fast. Chris had actually cooked this morning and Rory wasn't sure what was more shocking. The fact that her father could cook or the fact that they had ingredients to cook with in the house.

"Your dad's gone?" Lorelai asked as she came down stairs, dressed but with her hair in a towel.

"He tried to wait for you, but it was getting late."

"You two didn't worry where I was?" she asked.

"Luke called and let us know where you were. He promised to phone once a week," Rory said happily.

"I betcha he will, too," Lorelai said, returning the smile.

"Oh yeah, he told me to tell you Benjamin, Ryan, Andrew and Charles."

"He's really gunning for a boy, isn't he?" Lorelai asked as she pulled out the list and added them all. "Well, he just single handedly doubled the boys," she remarked.

"Emily?"

"You're kidding, right?" Rory just shrugged and walked away. "Right?!?" Lorelai called after her.

* * *

A few weeks later, Rory listened, slightly in disbelief as Lorelai went on and on about her want and need to cook something.

"Is this part of nesting?" Rory asked as she finally got up off her chair at the kitchen table and began to search for a suitable pan.

"Part of what?"

"Nesting," Rory said as she continued to search the kitchen for a pan. "Near the end of their pregnancy, women tend to have an undeniable urge to make the house ready for the baby. This can include compulsive cleaning and cooking." Lorelai finally looked up from the Hamburger Helper box to stare at Rory.

"You've been reading that book again, that _What to Expect When You're Expecting _book," Lorelai accused.

"No I haven't," she said as she finally found a some what suitable pan. "I've been scanning through _What to Expect When Your Spouse is Expecting_," she muttered and waited for the laughter to begin while she got a cloth to wipe the dust from the pan.

"Why?" was all she got. "Why on earth would you read that?"

"Because they don't make one called _What To Expect When You're a Teenager and Your Single Mother Is Pregnant_," Rory said as she pulled the hamburger out of the fridge. "Ew. No wonder Luke has an aversion to red meat."

"Gross," Lorelai said as she saw it again. "It didn't look that. . . "

"Raw?"

"Yeah in Doose's," she sat back in her chair and rubbed her belly for a moment. "Okay, urge is gone," she announced after a moment. "Put it back in the fridge."

"What are you going to do with it?"

"Give it to Sookie," she said confidently. Rory chuckled as she put the meat back in the fridge before sitting at down at the table once again.

"I need a favour," she said, playing with the sleeves of her sweater.

"Shoot," Lorelai said. Rory took a breath and launched into her story about Dean and their three month anniversary and how she needed to get out of Friday night dinner. Lorelai quickly launched into a personal scenario about the conversation she was about to have with her mother as she dialled the phone. She was so into it that she was actually caught off guard when her Emily picked up. After fumbling to find her train of thought, Lorelai finally launched into the task of getting Rory out of Friday night dinner and was rather shocked when Emily agreed without much hesitation.

"Okay. Right. Bye," Lorelai said as she flopped back on the couch and hung up the phone.

"So?" Rory asked eagerly as she hopped on the couch beside her.

"The world is officially coming to an end," Lorelai concluded. Rory smiled as she plucked the phone from Lorelai and went off to call Dean. "Hey, when you're done, I think I'm ready to try and cook again!" she yelled at Rory. "Or maybe clean the living room," she said as she looked around and considered her options. "Then again, maybe just do a load of laundry. Or watch some TV," she finally settled on as she grabbed the remote and started to look for something to watch. "Ooh! Evelyn!" she yelled out when she found _The Mummy_ on TV and with Rory not paying attention, it was automatically added to the list.

* * *

"I'm going to Luke's," Lorelai announced to Michel after he got off the phone with his girl friend. She was tired and irritable and all the couples in town for the Firelight Festival were doing nothing to improve her sour mood. "I'm going to find some sympathetic company," she grumbled as she grabbed her purse. "And some coffee." Michel smiled as he watched her stalk out of the Independence Inn. He chuckled just after she was out of ear shot, mostly because her stalk wasn't so intimidating any more as it was funny to watch.

Lorelai took her time as she wandered towards Luke's, making sure to take in all the different preparations that were happening for the Firelight Festival. Waving to people or stopping occasionally to offer an opinion about how a certain decoration should be hung.

"Heads up!"

"Ahh!" she yelled out as a papier-mache star fell from above, narrowly missing her.

"Hey, you okay?" the guy who was hanging it asked her. She looked from the broken star on the ground to the guy who was talking to her, a hand still clutching her stomach.

"Yeah," she said, catching her breath as the adrenaline abated. "I'm fine."

"Man, that has never happened before!" he swore to her, still looking from her to the broken star.

"Really? How about that," she said as she stood for a moment longer before stepping around the star and heading to Luke's. "I was almost crushed by a papier-mache star. How's your day?" she asked as she sat down at the counter. She eventually had to sit sideways, belly no longer tucking nicely under the counter. Luke's head shot up from the order pad he was glancing at.

"What? Are you ok?" he demanded.

"Yeah. A little startled, but okay."

"Well, my day is looking pretty good then," he said as he relaxed.

"Coffee please, no shot of cynicism," she said, making herself as comfortable as possible on the stool. She probably should have sat at a table, in a chair with a real back on it, but the conversations with Luke were always better when she sat at the counter. The two fell into an easy banter about the Firelight Festival and possible reasons for the mood she was in.

"You know," he said casually. "I heard a crazy rumour that pregnancy causes mood swings."

"Lies," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Nothing but propaganda."

"Fine, you're nuts then," he concluded with a shrug.

"Or bipolar. That's very big nowadays," she said as she took a sip of coffee as she listened to Patty and Taylor going on about the Festival. After blurting out her feelings on the festival, and covering with a claim of being bipolar from Luke, they returned to their own conversation about the festival. "I don't know what is wrong with me. This is a beautiful festival, people should be enjoying it."

"It's a crazy festival based on a nutty myth about two lunatics, who in all probability did not even exist. And even if they did, probably dropped dead of diphtheria before age 24," Luke ranted. Lorelai snickered into her coffee as he kept going. "The town of Stars Hollow probably got its name from the local dance hall prostitute. Two rich guys who made up the story so make it look good on a poster," he finally finished.

"You are so full of hate and loathing, and I gotta tell you, I love it!" she complemented him.

"Oh, it's so good to have somebody to share this hate with," he confided in her with a smile that she returned.

"My pleasure."

"More coffee?"

"Really? Yes!"

"No, just teasing," he said with an even larger smile before turning to put the pot back. Lorelai glared at him for a moment.

"Hey, tomorrow, if you have time, I'm planning on despising everyone who says _Hey, how's it going?_."

"You're on," Luke told her with a wink and he pressed his hands on the counter.

"Hey, how's it going?" Came a female voice from behind her.

"Oh, now that's just too easy," she muttered into her coffee, not noticing Luke's reaction to the voice's owner.

"Rachel," was all Luke could get out as his mouth dropped open in surprise and he actually paled a little.

"Rachel? Your Rachel?" she asked quickly as she put her cup down. "You're Rachel?" she asked, turning slightly to look at her.

"Yup," the tall brunette supplied. "I'm Rachel."

* * *

Lorelai flopped back in the drivers seat of the jeep, having escaped her mothers house and the horrible little man Emily was trying to set her up with. While she had briefly considered escaping out the window of her bedroom, she quickly reconsidered. Those tree branches weren't so stable the last time she had used them and she weighed considerably less then than she did now. So, she turned to the only real excuse at her disposal: something pregnancy related and fatigue seemed to fit the bill.

"Rory, where the hell are you when I need you, kid?" she asked the empty car as she finally pulled herself together to drive home.

Rory, meanwhile, wasn't fairing much better than Lorelai. While her anniversary with Dean had started out wonderfully and had just gotten better, they had definitely hit a snag when he confessed that he loved her while they were sitting in the old car he was rebuilding for her.

"Did you hear me?" he asked.

"Uh huh," was all Rory could get out as her mind raced to figure out what exactly was happening.

"Well, say something."

"I. . . uh. . . I love the car," she finally got out and she immediately kicked herself when she saw the look on his face. "Saying I love you is a really difficult thing!" she defended herself when he started to get agitated.

"Well I just did it."

"And you did it really well," she assured him with a smile.

"What the hell does that mean?" he demanded and Rory started to panic, this situation was rapidly spinning out of control and in a direction she didn't like the looks of. "You don't get pregnant saying I love you," he said after her attempts to defend her hesitation.

"I know," she said as she furrowed her brow, trying to collect herself. "It's just. . . Saying I love you is a big deal, my family doesn't toss that word around lightly."

"And mine does?"

"No! I just. . . I mean. . . "she hesitated.

"Fine, come on," he said, getting out of the car. He started to walk towards the exit of the junk yard, not even bothering to help Rory out of the car.

"Dean," she started. "Please don't be mad!" she yelled to him, trying to get him to slow down.

"I'll take you home," he said coldly.

"Do you just want me to say it?" she called to him. "Or do you want me to mean it when I say it?"

"I want you to say it now! And mean it!" he yelled at her as he stormed back over to where she was.

"I can't! I'm not sure! I don't know. . . " she trailed off. She was at a loss for words. She had never even considered loving someone other than her mom, dad and grandparents. She hadn't really even considered that she might love Dean until about ninety seconds ago.

"Look, it doesn't matter, alright? Let's go," he said as he took off out of the junk yard without her. She got out of the car slowly, making sure not to catch her dress before she hurried to catch up to him.

* * *

At the same time that Lorelai and Rory's nights were coming to disastrous ends, Luke's night with Rachel wasn't going so well either. He wasn't sure what to make of her. He had loved her, with all his heart, before she had simply packed up and left and it had taken him a long time to get over her and just when he figured he was done carrying a torch for her, poof! There she was, back in his life again.

"So," Rachel started as they sat on a bench together. "You're not happy to see me? Luke, I don't know what I'm doing here. I just missed you. I wanted to see you. I don't know what else to say," she admitted as she fidgeted with her camera.

"I missed you too," Luke finally admitted, not looking at Rachel.

"So, since we're both being blunt, what's the deal with Lorelai?" she asked, looking over at him.

"What are you talking about?" he asked her, truly confused at what she was getting at. It wasn't lost on Rachel that he wasn't focusing his attention on her during this conversation. In fact, he was looking every but at her. From Miss Patty's dancers to the twinkling lights his eyes were everywhere but on her.

"I'm talking about Lorelai, the lady who runs the inn, the extremely pregnant one, the one you've told me absolutely nothing about, and have been very careful to leave out of every story, anecdote or gossip about the town."

"There is no deal with Lorelai," he said, rather put out that she would even think such a thing. "We're friends. I help her and Rory out," he said.

"Rory?"

"Lorelai's daughter."

"You're just friends?" she asked again, not pressing how well he knew Lorelai or her daughter even though she really wanted to.

"Just friends."

"For now?"

"Yes," he answered without hesitation. "Why?" he questioned her.

"If you've moved on Luke, I want to know," she answered. They looked at each other, each trying to figure out the intentions of the other without asking. "What about in the future?" Luke had to pause at this before he tore his gaze away from the festival around him to look at her.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully and the two of them fell into silence.

"So. . . Where does this leave us?" she finally asked. He looked away from her and gazed out at the crowd.

"I don't know," he answered again. Truthfully, he wasn't sure if he was ready to try again with Rachel. She had that horrible habit of taking off just as he was getting comfortable being with someone long term.

"Well, um, well why don't you think about it. I'm going to go take some more pictures and maybe get some of that punch," she said finally, making a somewhat graceful exit from the conversation.

"That stuff will kill you," Luke called after her.

"Nice to see some things never change," she called back over her shoulder as she headed off into the crowd. Luke sat back on the bench and scanned the crowd for another tall brunette he wouldn't mind talking too, but he never caught site of her. Eventually he got up off the bench and went to find Rachel. He still wasn't sure what he wanted to do about her, but she was still his friend and probably needed a place to stay for the night.

* * *

Lorelai had considered stopping by the festival before heading home but as she drove by and saw all the happy couples, she couldn't bring herself to stop the jeep so she headed home. It was times like this that made her hate Christopher a little. He was off gallivanting around with a new flavour every month and she was single, raising his kids. She often wished she'd find a guy who wasn't afraid of taking her and Rory on full time, somebody who would put up with all their quirks and habits and just go along for the ride.

She sighed heavily as she pulled into the drive way and headed into the house, taking off her coat and kicking off her shoes before she headed into the kitchen for something to drink.

"Rory?" she called out when she heard the front door open and close again.

"Yeah," she heard Rory said and immediately stopped what she was doing and hurried to her. Rory shouldn't sound so flat and lifeless, especially after a date with Dean.

"Rory what happened?" she asked.

"We just broke up," she said before Lorelai pulled her as close as she could. Rory threw her arms around Lorelai and hung on, much like she had done when she was little.

"What happened?" Lorelai finally asked when Rory pulled away. Rory quickly spilled out the nights events, going into great detail about how she had gotten the meat ball but had forgotten it in the car. "What else?" Lorelai asked. Rory hesitated for a moment before she finally finished the story.

"He said he loved me."

"And?" Lorelai prompted as she led Rory over to the couch so they could sit down and she could put her feet up.

"And . . . I panicked!" she said, tears threatening to fall again. "I didn't know what to say! What to do!"

"Oh Sweets," she said as she pulled Rory close again.

"And he just kept getting madder and madder and he didn't want to talk about it. He wouldn't let me explain. . .

"Do you love him?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't know!" she said as she pushed away from Lorelai, got up and started to pace. "I'm not sure. I didn't want to say it just because he did," she said.

"Excellent choice."

"And I don't know. How do you know when you're in love?" she asked. "I mean, you told dad and look what happened."

"Rory, me and your dad are complicated," she said. "And it doesn't matter what me and your dad did. This is about how you feel about Dean. And maybe. . ." she trailed off.

"What?"

"He's your first real boyfriend," Lorelai started again. "This is all new for you but he's had a serious relationship before. If he's not willing to let you figure things out for yourself. . . "

"Are you saying it's good we broke up?" she demanded.

"No, Rory!" she insisted. "Maybe you need a break, hit the pause button."

"This sounds like breaking up to me," she said.

"Rory, if you need time to figure out how you feel about Dean, you should have it, he should give it to you! He shouldn't expect you to be ready to profess your undying love to him just because he is! You're you and he's him," she said as she got up and walked over to Rory. "Let him cool down, maybe he'll change his mind. Maybe, in a few days, hell, maybe even tomorrow you'll have figured things out and you'll go to him."

"Mom. . . "

"First loves are complicated and intense and everything is out of proportion, like those mirrors in the fun house. Some times it takes time to put things in perspective, maybe this is one of those times," she said calmly, rubbing her hands up and down Rory's arms, trying to calm her down and comfort her. Rory stood, staring at a point over Lorelai's shoulder as she took this in.

"I need a box," was all Rory said in return as she headed into her room. Lorelai followed her and watched as she took a few things out of a box that had been in her room before she began to pile things into it. Lorelai rescued her sweater from the box, even though she could no onger wear it, and tried to talk Rory out of shoving Colonel Clucker, her stuffed Chicken, into the box along with the dress Lorelai had made her for her first real dance. She sighed as the bracelet Dean had made her was tossed in along with a few book. Lorelai accepted the box with the promise of getting rid of it before leaving Rory to wallow.

"Oh yeah, this Firelight Festival is just magical," she said sarcastically as she headed back over to the couch after hiding the 'Dean' box under a blanket next to the 'Christopher' box. _At least they can keep each other company,_ she mussed as she found the remote to the TV.

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

* * *

Rachel and Luke had slipped into a routine, much like the one they had been in when they had been dating. He'd come down to work in the diner and she'd turn his apartment into a black room for a few hours in the early morning before coming down to help with the breakfast rush. Today, however, she was running late because of the amount of pictures she had taken at the Firelight Festival so she caught him doing inventory between the breakfast and lunch rushes.

"Hey Luke?" Rachel called as she wandered down from the apartment with a pile of photographs she had taken.

"Yeah?" he asked, distracted by the inventory he was doing.

"Do you know what this place used to be?" she handed him a photo of a run down building. He cast a glance at it, squinting at it slightly.

"Obviously a building."

"Thank you," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "What kind of building?"

"No idea. Ask Patty or Lorelai, they'll know," he said as he went back to the shelves in front of him. He sighed, he had a growing feeling that his meat guy was going to have to go. Again.

"Oh yeah, that's the old Dragonfly Inn," Lorelai said as she took the picture from Rachel. "I had forgotten about that place."

"It's kind of behind the mill," she said, taking a seat beside her. "You go over the little footbridge with the mean duck family living underneath it."

"Yes, the Armbrusters," she said with a smile, remembering a chance encounter with them once.

"Do you want to see it?"

"What?"

"The inn. I'm gonna head out that way in a little while."

"I'd love to," she said. "But I'm not exactly all-terrain rated these days," she said with a smile that Rachel returned.

"I understand. Not much longer?"

"About 6 weeks, give or take," she admitted.

"Exciting!" Rachel said as she jumped up and gathered the photos. "I should get back to work," she said as she headed off to put the photos away before joining Luke in waiting on the lunch rush. Lorelai returned the smile, but didn't really mean it. She was too scared to really be excited. With Rory, she knew how things would go. She knew she'd be fighting her mother for control, fighting about Nannies and maids who wanted to mother her baby for her. And this time? No one but herself to fall back on. No nannies or maids to pick up the slack when she was too bone weary to drag herself out of bed at 3 am to deal with a tiny, helpless person.

She stared into her almost empty cup of coffee and nearly finished lunch as she considered how scared she actually was. No one had really asked so she had never brought it up, but she was almost more afraid of failing this time than she had been with Rory. Lorelai drained the rest of the coffee, left some cash on the table and slowly made her way out of the diner and to the jeep, intent on heading home but, half way there, she changed her mind and headed to the Inn. Sookie was being a strict enforcer of maternity leave, but she needed reassurance without questioning and Sookie would give that too her, no matter what.

* * *

"Hey," she said as she wandered into the kitchen. "Are you busy?"

"What are you doing here?" Sookie demanded as she rushed over to her.

"I need some reassurance," she said. Sookie wasn't really sure what to make out of this.

"Ok," she said as she left her sous-chef in charge of the kitchen and led Lorelai out the back door in the kitchen to the yard. "About what Sweetie?" she asked they wandered over to a bench with no guess around.

"About everything, Sookie. About what I'm doing, about Rory about the Inn. . . I just. . . I was talking to Rachel. . . " she trailed off, trying to figure out exactly what she was asking.

"So, Rachel said something?" Sookie asked, grasping for straws.

"No. Yes. Yes, but she didn't mean too. She found this old inn, the Dragonfly?" Sookie nodded, she knew of it. "And she invited me to go out with her to see it and, I'm not exactly in any condition to go traipsing around the back country."

"Yeah, I'm gonna second that," she said with a small smile as she waived her hand at a small bug.

"And when I pointed that out, she asked about my due date and ended the conversation with _exciting!_"

"Well. . . It is! . . .Isn't it?" Sookie asked, when Lorelai's mood seemed to fall even further.

"It should be, it is," she said, trying to smile. "But, I don't know," she finally said, throwing her hands in the air. "I want to be excited about this baby but all I feel is scared."

"It's going to be fine. You've done this once before," Sookie reminded her with a smile.

"Yeah, but I had my mother and her staff and the nannies she insisted on hiring and when I left there, Mia was always there to help, to make sure we were both okay and now. . . It's me and this little person and Rory who's 2 years away from going to college. What the hell am I doing having a baby, alone, when Rory's almost in college? Who does something like this?" she asked, nearly in tears. "Who the hell has their second baby almost 20 years after the first?"

"You do," Sookie assured her. "You are going to do this and everything is going to be fine. Everyone is going to love this baby!" Sookie said as she caught Lorelai's eyes. "You are going to be turning people away who want to baby sit and offer advice and hand-me down clothes and toys and furniture! And Rory is going to fall in love with Sparky," she said as they both smiled at the nick name that had inadvertently stuck. "And so are you and you're gonna wonder what you ever did before Sparky came along."

"What if I mess up?"

"Do it before they can remember. At least, that was my mothers advice," she offered with a smile and shrug. Lorelai couldn't help but laugh at the advice too. "Why all this now, Honey?" she asked. "You seemed so sure the whole time." Lorelai shrugged and shook her head.

"I don't know." The pair fell into silence for a long moment as they stared out over the grounds. "Thank you," she said.

"That's what I'm here for," Sookie reminded her. "No more bottled up anything!" she insisted. "Even if it's 2 am and you're freaking out about. . . I don't know, something I know nothing about, you call me and we'll deal with it. Ok?"

"Ok," she agreed, feeling somewhat calmer about the situation. "6 weeks," she said.

"6 weeks," Sookie echoed.

"We still don't have a name," she complained. "Everything else, thanks to mom and dad, yes, but no name.

"You parents really bought everything?" Sookie asked, not really believing that Lorelai would accept that.

"My mom kept everything she bought when Rory was a baby and, as an added bonus, everything turns into something else," she said with a shrug. "And it's all _really_ nice. There's also everything from that baby shower," she said glancing over at Sookie. Sookie had really out done herself with the shower, inviting close friends only, they had shacked up at Sookie's house for the afternoon with more food than they knew what to do with.

"Emily on that list yet?"

"Middle name. Only if we're desperate," Lorelai agreed. "Hey any others to share?"

"Well," Sookie considered for a moment. "Lorelai IV?"

"Rory ruled that out," she said.

"Okay. Hey! Why not pick a name based on a feature. Like, Sky if Sparky's eyes are really blue!"

"Yeah, I'm more likely just to keep calling it Sparky. Thanks for playing though," she assured Sookie, patting her on the knee, her mood was considerably better now.

* * *

Feeling better about things, Lorelai returned to the lobby of the Inn with the general plan of checking to see if there was any mail for her before heading back home. Unfortunately, her plan was thrown off when Rory and Emily walked up to her. Lorelai had forgotten that Rory was showing Emily around town today. This chance meeting of course gave Emily the chance to throw out a few more zingers in Lorelai's direction, since apparently, a dinner once a week as well as a phone call wasn't enough for her mother. So, Lorelai stood her ground as her mother threw off one passive aggressive insult after another about the pregnancy and her job before Rory finally managed to distract her away. When she finally did get away from them, she high tailed it to her office and immediately picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Chris," she said. After meeting up with her mother and Rory, she needed a sympathetic ear.

"Hey Lor!" he said happily. "How are you?"

"Good," she said.

"Baby's fine?"

"Everyone's good and on schedule," she informed him. "Did you manage to get the time off?" she asked, playing with the phone cord.

"I'll be there the 10th of June and I can stick around until the 26th," he said. "Only a few more weeks," he added.

"Yep, 6 more weeks," she added again. This seemed to be her refrain of the day.

"I'm gonna rent a car when I get in," he told her. "So we won't have to deal with cabs."

"Good," she said, trying to stay upbeat. All she really wanted to do was cry to him about how she didn't want to do this alone again.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, finally picking up on the fact that all was not right in Who-vill.

"I'm tired," she said. "And nervous. And Emily is here."

"In town?"

"At the Inn. Rory is showing her around. I just ran into them."

"Wow. How was that?"

"Reminded me of why I like to keep Stars Hollow and Hartford separate," she said, a real smile forming. She heard him laugh on the other end of the line before there was another voice in the back ground, calling to him.

"Hey, I hate to run, but I gotta go, business lunch for work. I'm giving some friends a lift and I had to stop home and change, you caught me just in time," he told her.

"It's 2 in the afternoon," she pointed out.

"It's 11 here," he reminded her of the time change.

"Right," she said. He could tell she was a little embarrassed to have forgotten the time change. An awkward silence fell over them.

"Other than Emily being there, how's the inn?"

"Ok, I assume. Mia demanded maternity leave and Sookie is enforcing it." He laughed and she frowned that he took pleasure in this.

"When I show up, I'm at your beck and call," he told her. "Better?"

"I guess."

"Don't worry about a thing, Lor. I'll call you and Rory later."

"Okay."

"Oh, Lor? Julian, Jake, Nathan and Alexander. Or Starub."

"Seriously?"

"Yes!" he said. After a moment of silence, he relented. "Starub, no. Micah?"

"You're really gunning for a boy, aren't you?" she asked him.

"You and Rory haven't even considered Boy names, have you?" he asked back. He was pretty sure he could hear the blush on her face from there.

"I'll get back to you on Micah," she said, changing the subject while adding the five names to the mental list in her head. She had left the paper list at home.

"See ya," he said.

"Bye," she said when they finally hung up. Great, now she wished she was heading off to have a cocktail.

* * *

"Who was that?" Janice, one of his colleagues, asked after Chris had hung up.

"Lorelai," he answered without hesitation. He liked Janice and was hoping it would turn into something. He figured Lorelai was right and he had to stop lying about his ex-girl friend who'd had his baby at 16 and was having his second. Janice didn't answer back right away.

"You're kid's mother?" she asked.

"My kids' mother. We're having a baby in June," he said. "We're not together anymore," he said when he came out of his bedroom, a fresh shirt on. "I stopped by to see them, her and Rory, the end of August and I thought I was ready to settle down. I wasn't and here we are," he said as he tied his tie while keeping half an eye on her.

"I don't get it. . ." she said. She had seen pictures of the brunette he kept on his desk and figured maybe it was his sister. Or a girlfriend.

"We had Rory at 16," he admitted to her. "Not the best plan, but there she is. Her parents thought we should get married and she disagreed. I went to college and dropped out soon after and she lived at home with Rory for a year before packing her up and settling in Stars Hollow. She's been there ever since and I've been trying to get things together ever since." He felt a little odd about telling her this, he had never really told any woman he was with, or potentially with, about his past. "I thought I had things together last fall. I had an internet company that was small, but was stable and the longer I stayed with them the less I wanted to leave."

"So, why did you?"

"I panicked," he admitted. "Rory was getting used to me being there all the time and Lorelai was getting ready to give up coveted drawer space, which is a huge deal, believe me, and I panicked. All I saw was I was going to be tied down and I was going to have to be accountable and give up my bike, because if you're going to be a family man . . ."

"You can't have a motorcycle," Janice finished for him as she came to sit beside him on the sofa.

"Things went to hell after that. The company went under, I lost contact. When I got things under control again, my parents called. They were back in Connecticut and wanted to see me so I stopped by to see Lor and Rory and . . . "

"She was pregnant."

"5 months. We discussed the issue. . . Okay, she yelled and I listened. . . And she was right. Time to grow up and face the music."

"That girl on your desk, not your sister?"

"Not my sister."

"Or a girl friend?"

"That's Rory. Smartest kid you'll ever meet," he gushed to her as he led her out of his apartment. "She goes to one of the top prep schools in the country and she has her sights set on Harvard."

"Wow," was all she could say. This was a new side of Christopher Hayden and she was pretty sure she liked it.

* * *

"Really?" Rory asked as she pulled her shoes on.

"Yes really," Lorelai said as she slipped hers on and opened the door.

"You want to walk all the way to Luke's."

"It's not that far, and we do it all the time," she said, not understanding what the problem was.

"You're not usually nearly 2 weeks away from your due date either," Rory protested.

"All the more reason why we should walk," Lorelai pointed out.

"Fine, let's go," Rory said as she held the front door open. The morning was warm and Lorelai was glad that May was nearly over. May had been unusually cool and rainy and no good for spending time out side which was unfortunate when walking anywhere took ages. Today was no exception. The time it took to walk to Luke's rivaled the time it took them to get there after the annual dance marathons.

"How have you not had that kid yet?" Luke asked as Lorelai and Rory sat at one of the tables by the window.

"Because Sparky knows what's good for it," Lorelai said firmly as she waited for Luke to take their order.

"Dad won't be in town for another 10 days," Rory supplied.

"Coffee will be out in a bit. Pancakes?"

"Yes!" Rory said, ordering for both of them. "Did you sleep at all last night?" she asked after Luke had left the table.

"There were 20 minute periods, yes," she admitted with a yawn.

"You need to wake up. Bright eyed and bushy-tailed is the way to be!" Rory said in an overly cheerful voice.

"Can't. Tired, uncomfortable, swollen," she said, gesturing to her ankles.

"Play a game? _1, 2, 3 _?" Rory offered, feeling pretty confident that this would do the trick.

"Me first!" Lorelai said, perking up.

"And one!" Rory said as the first guy walked by.

"Pass."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not Anna Nicole Smith. Next," she said, feeling no need to deal with the elderly crowd.

"Two," Rory said, really getting into this.

"Mmmm . . Pass. I'm not Mary Kay LeTourneau," she tacked on after Rory's obligatory 'why?'.

"Okay. . ." she said, doubting a better catch. Luke came over soon after, joining them in staring out the window. Rory interrupted her observations by asking if Luke counted as number three, Before Lorelai could even consider the idea, Luke had ruled himself out.

"I'm not playing," he said simply.

"Well of course not," Lorelai said, stunned that the would even suggest such a thing. "It's still my turn."

"Okay, last chance," Rory said when they saw another guy walking across the street.

"Why am I looking?" Luke asked, more for himself than anything else.

"Because it's like a train wreck." Lorelai confirmed. "Awwww, no!" Lorelai moaned when they saw that number 3 was Kirk.

"Daddy!" Rory called joyfully.

"Not Kirk!" Lorelai pleaded.

"Maybe he'll buy us a pony!" Rory teased, a large smile on her face as she leaned over the table and rubbed Lorelai's belly.

"I wanna go back to the old guy," Lorelai whined as she battled Rory's hand away. Luke snickered and left the table to greet Kirk at the door.

"Congratulations man," he said, slapping Kirk on the shoulder. Kirk thanked him, confused but was soon driven off by Lorelai and Rory's giggling at his presence.

"Mom, quick! He's leaving!"

"Oh no Kirk come back I loooooooooooove you!" Lorelai called out. "Drat." she said sarcastically. Rory giggled. "Hey, if you don't mind me asking, what ever happened with you and Dean? Are you guys still broken up?" She knew that they hadn't really been talking, but she was pretty sure the avoiding had been scaled down.

"Pretty sure," she said, playing with the coffee that Luke had just brought over. "I keep trying to talk to him about it, but he won't listen."

"And, um, what did you decide?"

"I think I love him," she admitted, playing with the condiments on the table. "But, I think maybe you were right."

"About?"

"If he's not ready to listen to me or give me the time I need, maybe he's not worth it," she shrugged a little.

"Rory. . . You don't need to go from one extreme to another. It's okay to want to try and make it work, just make sure you're doing it for the right reasons." Rory considered this a little longer. "I mean, make sure you're not just cutting him out of your life out of spite, or you're cutting him out because it's what he did to you."

"I know," she said as she drank her coffee. "What time are you and Sookie heading out?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Subtle," Lorelai commented as breakfast arrived. "In the afternoon. As much as I hate to admit it, mommy needs a nap before hitting the mall these days."

"I can't believe you haven't gotten everything yet. What could you possibly need? Especially after Grandma and Grandpa bought all that stuff."

"See, while your grandmother, bless her, thinks big, she tends to forget the minor things, like a car seat, because she has people to do that for her." Rory cocked an eye brow at her.

"Seriously? No car seat?"

"No, not seriously. Or don't you remember tripping over it?" Lorelai asked who promptly hid her face in the large coffee mug.

"Then what?" she finally asked.

"No idea. This is all Sookie's idea. I'm just along for the ride."

"Hmmm . . ." was all Rory could manage and Lorelai looked at her, long and hard.

"You know something," she said finally.

"I know nothing!" Rory insisted, throwing her hands up in defence. "She's taking you to Hartford to go shopping, that's all I know. Are you okay?" she asked as she watched Lorelai grimace and shift around in her seat again.

"Yeah, sore back, hard chair. . . You do the math."

"Gotcha," she said as they went back to eating and trying to figure out what Sookie had planned.

* * *

"You're back again?" Luke asked when Rory wandered into the diner in the evening.

"Mom's in Hartford with Sookie, Lane is doing something with her mom . . . I'm out of options."

"I feel special now," he commented. Rory smiled and tried to back peddle but he stopped her. "No home work?" he asked as he poured her a cup of coffee.

"Nope. Final projects are all mostly finished, nothing but studying for exams and I definitely need a break," she said as she accepted the coffee. "Plus, there are not even pop tarts in the house right now and since I had to go out and buy food," she held up a bag from Doose's. "I might as well eat while I'm out."

"Smart," he said, leaning on the counter. The dinner rush was over and only a few stragglers were left so he was free to chat with Rory.

"That's why I pay to go to school," she said with a smile. "What does the chef recommend tonight?" she asked.

"Really?"

"Change is good!" Rory insisted.

"The salads are really good tonight," he started. Rory just gave him a look. "Had to try," he admitted. "Turkey burger? A turkey on white? Ham and cheese on rye?"

"Cheese burger with swiss?, chilli fries," she answered him finally. Luke rolled his eyes before placing the order.

"I thought change was good."

"I changed the cheese," she said in her own defense.

"Careful there wild thing. . . " he told her with a small smile.

"Hey Luke?"

"What?"

"Where's Rachel?" Rory asked. "I haven't seen her around in a while."

"Uh. . . She left," he said after a moments hesitation.

"Why? She got another assignment?"

"Yeah," he lied. "Off to some where exotic already." Rory studied him for a moment but didn't push the issue. Luke was her provider while Lorelai was away and she felt no need to put her food supply in danger. "Food'll be out in a minute."

"Thanks," she said as she pulled a book out of her bag and started to read.

"Eat," she heard through the fog a few minutes later. She picked her book up off the counter, but didn't stop reading until Luke plucked it from her hands.

"Hey!" she said, rather annoyed.

"Dinner, then book," he told her as he took the book mark from the counter beside her, marked her place and stuck it on the counter behind him.

"Yes dad," she joked as she started to eat. The two carried on a light conversation as Rory had dinner. Her plans for the summer were discussed as were his plans to go camping for a week in August. "Give us some warning?" she asked. "So we can stock up accordingly?"

"No problem," he said. As he cleared her plates, her cell phone went off.

"Mom?" Rory asked into her cell phone.

"Outside!" Luke called.

"Oh my God! Really? Yeah, yeah I'll call him . . .Yeah, I'll get it. . . I'll find a way there. What? Yeah, I have the keys to the jeep. Yeah, I'll call you when I know. Yeah. Yeah, bye Sookie," she said as she hung up the phone to see Luke staring at her.

"You are your mothers daughter. That sign is there for a reason," he said, pointing to the _no cell phones_ sign.

"That was Sookie, mom's in labour," she said as she sat glued to her stool. "I need to get there. No, I need to call my dad and stop at home and then go there." Luke stopped his rant before he could really get into it.

"Come on," he told her. "Cesar! Close up!" he called as he came around the counter and led her out of the diner. "You start calling, I'll drive."

"Home first," she said, already dialling Chris' number, letting Luke guide her by the arm so she didn't have to stop walking. Or worry about walking into anything.

* * *

"You got a hold of him?" Luke called upstairs to Rory as she threw stuff into a duffle back for Lorelai. They had arrived home a few minutes ago and she had quickly abandoned him in the living room while she ran around packing the bag that Lorelai had sworn to her she had packed weeks ago.

"A few minor details to wrap up . . ." she muttered as she dug through the dresser. "Yeah! He's trying to find a flight up from California!" she yelled back down to Luke before she began ransacking the bathroom. Thankfully, she'd had enough good sense to put together a list of the things her mother would need, so she wouldn't forget anything. "Okay," she said as she ran down the stairs a few minutes later. "I have everything." Rory locked up and they were soon on their way.

* * *

"The gangs all here!" Sookie said joyfully when she met Luke and Rory in the hall.

"Dad's not here," Rory pointed out.

"But he will be, right?" Sookie asked.

"He working on getting a flight," she assured her.

"Oh man," Luke said as he saw a husband walking his wife down the hallway, the back of her gown flapping open. Sookie and Rory snickered at this.

"Are you going to stick around?" Sookie asked.

"Well. . . "

"There's a waiting room down the hall," Rory offered. "We passed it on the way here."

"I'll be down the hall, just in case anyone needs anything," he muttered as he headed off down the hallway, not looking up as he went. Sookie and Rory giggled some more before headed to see Lorelai.

"Hey there Hot Stuff," Rory said with a smile as she dumped the bag on a chair and went to hug Lorelai.

"So, that sore back for the last day and a half? Contractions," she said.

"Really? You've done this before, how did you miss that?"

"Okay, you? You were in no way about the subtle," she said, pointing an accusatory finger and shifting over to make some room on the bed for Rory who promptly sat down. "You were a 'go big or go home' kind of baby. When you wanted out, I knew. I think Sparky got all the 'subtle' that you didn't."

"Sorry," Rory said with a shrug.

"Lorelai?" a voice called from the hall way as a nurse walked in. "I see the whole gang is here," she said with a smile.

"Almost," she confirmed.

"You are?"

"Rory, the daughter. The first one, the only one. Maybe, we don't know, I mean, we could have but we decided not to find out. . . Yeah. . . " she finished lamely. Maura, the nurse, smiled.

"Excited?"

"And nervous."

"It'll be fine," she said. "And. . .Sookie, right?"

"Mmhmm," Sookie agreed. They listened as Maura rattled on about what was going to happen, about medications and procedures and possible timelines.

"And who will be in the delivery room?" The room fell into silence.

"Chris, the father, if he gets here in time," Lorelai finally answered.

"If not?"

"Sookie?"

"Sure," she said.

"Unless you. . ." she asked Rory.

"Nope," she said right away. "I'll be the one pacing with Luke." Maura finished her notes and left the trio.

"Luke is here?"

"I was in the diner when Sookie called. Fortunately for you, I had just finished dinner, or you would have had to wait. Hey, did you call Grandma and Grandpa?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, they were out though, so I left a message with the Maid of the Week, said we'd call them first thing in the morning. Of course, all that is going to get me is another lecture," she said with a small sigh. Her parents, while still not happy with the situation, were still demanding to be informed of everything. "But, again, Luke is here? I thought you had the keys to the jeep?"

"I was freaking out! Luke offered to drive and I took him up on it. He's in the waiting room down the hall."

"Is he freaking out?"

"There was some lady with the back of her gown hanging open."

"Ah, butt freak out," Lorelai said. "Poor Luke," she commented.

* * *


	11. Chapter 11

So, here it is, the last chapter. I thought about making this one huge story with all the season in it, but I changed my mind. Season 2 will be a separate story, probably titled Da Capo Season 2. It's been fun and it was a hell of an intro to the GG fandom!

* * *

A few hours later, Rory found herself in the waiting room with Luke, calling Christopher to see where he was. Unfortunately, the news was not good.

"Really? You've tried everything?" Rory asked Chris. He as still in California.

"Everything kiddo. Apparently, bribing the girls at the ticket counter won't get you anywhere."

"What about sexual favours? Did you try that? Or flirting? Mom would flirt. . . "

"Ok, new rule? No saying 'sexual favours' to daddy ever again. Also? Your mom flirting and me flirting are two _very_ different things."

"Why? You're hot too?" Chris laughed.

"Because I'm not 5'8 with legs up to my neck," he said calmly. "6am tomorrow is the best they can do."

"Every airline?"

"Well, Delta can get me to an 8 hour layover in Denver. . . " he suggested. Rory sighed.

"Stand by? A red eye?"

"Already on the wait lists, Rory."

"Ok," she said with a sigh. "I'll tell mom."

"Tell her I'm sorry and that it's not my fault Sparky didn't stick to the schedule."

"I will."

"Rory?"

"Yeah?"

"Joshua."

"Seriously?" she asked him.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, I guess," she said. "I should go."

"See ya tomorrow kid."

"See ya tomorrow," she said as she hung up.

"Not coming?" Luke asked from a few seats over. Rory shook her head.

"Everything is booked until tomorrow morning at 6 am. He's on the wait list for stand by and the red eye but he doesn't think he'll make it, neither do I. Labour is faster the second time around," she started. Luke wanted to stop her, but when Rory was nervous or excited, she tended to ramble. "So, it should be less than 14 hours and there have been mild contractions for the last day and half. . ."

"Day and a half? Your mother has been in labour for the last 36 hours?" he asked, trying to figure out how he didn't notice that.

"Yeah, but not active labour, so it could still take a while. I should get back there, shouldn't I?" Luke nodded and Rory turned on her heel and left. Luke sank down in a chair, still trying to figure out how he hadn't noticed this minor detail.

* * *

"Dad's not coming," Rory blurted out when she got into the room.

"What?!"

"He can't get a flight out until tomorrow at 6 am. He's on the wait list for stand by and the red eye but. . . " Lorelai flopped back on the pillows.

"Unbelievable. . . He's going to miss it again. This is a joke, right? One last chance to watch the pregnant lady freak out?" she asked, really hoping it was a joke.

"Sorry," Rory said as she sat down on the window seat in the room.

"Fan-friggen-tastic," Lorelai muttered.

"At least Sookie will be going in with you this time. You don't have to do it alone."

"I know," she said, not really feeling all that much better about the situation.

"Why so glum?" Sookie asked, having just gotten back from the cafeteria. Rory stared out the window as Lorelai filled her in. She wasn't really sure how she felt about Chris not making it in time. Part of her was glad that this was just going to be her, Lorelai and Sookie, but part of her also wanted her dad here, just because.

"And, it's that time again," Lorelai said when she saw Maura hovering in the door way. Rory made a hasty exit for the waiting room, her thoughts still milling around her head.

* * *

"Rory? Rory wake up," Sookie shook her gently.

"Wha?" she muttered, still mostly asleep. "What time is it?" It had been a little after 10 when she had wandered out to keep Luke company for a while. They had been talking and she was tired and before she knew it, she must have fallen asleep.

"2:07am, June 1st."

"Then why are you so happy?" she asked. The hospital was mostly quiet and in her sleep fogged brain, she hadn't remembered where she was yet.

"Because you're a big sister!" she said. That got Rory's attention.

"Oh my God! Really?" she said, getting up. "Luke! I'm a big sister!" she said, rushing over to where he had propped himself up in a corner to sleep.

"Boy? Girl?" he asked when he woke up, both he and Rory looking to Sookie.

"A girl! All 6 pounds 10 ounces of her," she said as she opened her arms to Rory who had rushed over for a hug. "Mom's fine too. She says to call your dad and then come back, you too Luke." Luke fidgeted in the corner, not sure if he'd go or not while Rory nodded and quickly phoned Chris, relating all the information back to him.

"So I guess you guys are still the Gilmore Girls, huh?" Chris asked.

"Yeah," she said with a smile. "I guess we are."

"Name to come?"

"Name to come," she assured him as she reached into her back pocket and pulled out the battered pieces of paper with names on them. She glanced over the list of boy names before tossing it in the trash. "The front runners are Evelyn Marie and Charlotte Abigail," she told him. She noticed Luke's head jerk up at the mention of Abigail and she made a mental note to ask later.

"Gorgeous," he said. "Give your mom and your sister a kiss for me."

"I will. Love you dad."

"Love ya kid," he said as he hung up the phone and began to count down the hours till his flight.

"Luke," Rory started.

"I'll wait here," he said, waiving her off.

"But mom. . . "

"Is probably on a lot of demoral," he said.

"I'll bring her out," she said, figuring out what the hesitation was.

"Thanks," was all he said as he picked his coat up off the ground. He had thrown it over Rory when she had fallen asleep and, needless to say, it had been forgotten in the excitement. He sighed contentedly as he stared out the window and waited to meet his newest customer.

* * *

"Gorgeous!" Rory exclaimed when she saw her.

"All pink and new," Lorelai added, holding the baby close.

"Perfect?"

"And perfect. I think you and her are a tie," she said with a smile.

"I'd hate to think I was dethroned," Rory whispered, still in awe of the little creature in her mothers arms. "Dad says congratulations and that this," she kissed Lorelai on the forehead. "is from him. He has one for her too."

"Well, go on then, don't deprive her," her mother prompted. Rory hesitated for a moment before following through. "Where's Luke?"

"In the waiting room," Sookie volunteered, seeing as how Rory was lost in the baby again.

"Here, take her, get to know your sister," she said as she held the baby out.

"I'll drop her. Or break her. . ." she panicked. Lorelai smiled. "Fine," she said, taking a deep breath and holding her arms out. Lorelai handed the baby over slowly. Rory had never been much of a babysitter. Sure, she had kept an eye on kindergartners for a bit while she had been in school, but mostly just during the Christmas assemblies when the teachers were up performing their skits. Holding a baby, and a new one at that, was definitely uncharted territory. "She looks like a Charlotte," Rory said quietly.

"Well, go introduce Charlie to Luke then," Lorelai said, as she sunk back into the bed. Rory smiled and slowly headed off. Lorelai snickered a little as she watch Rory move very slowly and very carefully, trying not to jostle the baby in her arms.

* * *

"Luke?" Rory called as she came around the corner. He jumped up, lost in his thoughts and glanced around before he settled his gaze on Rory.

"So this is. . . "

"Charlotte Abigail, Charlie," she supplied as she wandered over to him and he met her in the middle of the room.

"Huh," was all he said when he saw the bundle. "The night we picked colours for the diner, I felt, well your mom grabbed my hand and. . .she kicked," he got out finally. "And when I finally convinced her to sleep for a while, she asked what my mothers name was, I guess she remembered." Rory smiled as she thought about the stories.

"Want to?"

"Oh no," he said, backing up a little as she shoved his hands into his pockets.

"She won't break." Luke hesitated for a moment longer before Rory and her blue eyes wore him down. He agreed on the condition that they sat down, so they did and she watched as he face lit up when he had the baby in his arms.

"The last time I held a baby, I was 19 and Liz, my sister, had just had her baby. A boy, Jess and can I say, he was no where near as cute as her." Rory snickered and laid her head on Luke's shoulder as they both spent a few more minutes with Charlie, before Maura came and took her back to the nursery.

* * *

The End! For now. . . 


End file.
